Rise of the True Death God
by BahamutReishiki
Summary: Ichigo Kurosaki wasn't someone to let a half-remembered dream worry him. That all changed when his world is invaded by demons and he barely escapes to another world with the help of a mysterious stranger. Now stuck on a world where magic exists can he find a way to avenge his fallen world and everyone he lost?
1. Chapter 1: Death & Magi

_I'm going to keep this author's note short. Here is the first chapter of my next story. I decided after posting Chapter 11 of **Key through the Soul** to go back to my roots as a Fanfiction writer and take a look at Bleach and Warcraft (which got me started here in the first place). Of course my first stories were terribly written and I cringe when I look back and read them. So I decided to write a different story in a new context. Instead of a group of Ichigo's friends going to Azeroth why not, i thought, just have Ichigo go instead? It took some time and a bit of outlining but I found a story line that works! I hope you enjoy it and don't forget to review!_

_In related news I recently became a Beta Reader for JIMMYJAMSTER728 for his stories **United against the Legion of Flames** and **Transcendence** Take a look at his stories when you have a chance. You won't be disappointed._

**_Revised: November 5, 2013: I fixed the entire last section of the chapter as well as several other parts with Ichigo in order to fix his personality somewhat. Several members who PM'ed me said that Ichigo's reaction was not authentic enough given what happened. So I took a look at it and had to agree. Thank you for the help guys!  
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**Rise of the True Death God: Chapter 1**

Ichigo opened his eyes and quickly realized that he was no longer in his room. In fact, he wasn't even in Karakura Town anymore for that matter.

"Where am I? Is this a dream?"

At first he thought it might be a dream and he really wanted it to be one but everything seemed too real. In dreams colors seem muted, shapes are warped and things pop into and out of existence on a whim. Ichigo could see nothing of the sort happening. Everything about the forest he found himself in seemed to be real. From the birds chirping in the distance to the slight smell of the trees around him he could find nothing to say this was a dream. If he didn't know he had fallen asleep in his bed just the night before Ichigo would have believed he was actually in another world.

Taking a calming breath he decided to go over what he knew, "Ok, let's take a step back here and go over what happened. I remember lying in my bed, Rukia was off to who-knows-where on official shinigami business and dad was whining about something Karin said to him. I remember falling asleep and then nothing."

A few days ago Ichigo had asked Rukia about the shinigami and, among several other things, she had mentioned how all shinigami have an inner world where they converse with their zanpakuto. His initial reaction to Rukia talking about his zanpakuto as being alive was skeptical at best but eventually he came around to believing her. Apart from her terrible drawing skills Rukia wasn't one to lay or make stuff up like that. Still, Ichigo took a look around the forest, something about this place didn't seem as if it belonged on Earth or even part of his soul.

"_**Hurry."**_

"Who said that?" Ichigo spun around, his feet crunching on fallen leaves as he looked for the source of the voice. Seeing nothing he reached for where his zanpakuto would be on his back but found to his muted surprise that it wasn't there. Lowering his arm and glancing back and forth through the forest he looked for any sign, any evidence that someone was there.

"_**There is no time to waste Ichigo Kurosaki. Your world does not have much time left."**_

"What are you talking about?" That time the voice sounded as if it was coming from right next to him. Snapping his head to the left he looked around but once again found no one there. As if following some unconscious signal Ichigo began walking through the shadowy forest, up and over plants and around trees that he could not remember ever seeing before. The whole forest seemed to be giving off an extraterrestrial vibe that Ichigo felt was similar to what he felt when fighting hollows.

A blue ball of light whisked by Ichigo's head and he put his arms up to defend himself. It was all for naught as the ball of light simply orbited around him a couple of times before floating away into the forest. As it did so Ichigo could have sworn he heard a melodious voice whispering or laughing.

"_**This way Ichigo Kurosaki. You are running out of time. They are almost here."**_

Ichigo did hurry but it seemed that no matter how much he ran the voice was still the same distance away. One moment it would be right next to his ear, whispering into it, and the next it would sound as if it was coming from over the horizon. He didn't know how much time passed, it could have been minutes or even hours, for the sun in the sky seemed to be eternally setting to the west. Eventually he managed to breach through the edge of the forest and found himself standing on a cliff.

"Holy hell…"

Ichigo liked to think being able to see spirits, shinigami, and hollows helped to make him immune to being surprised by strange and mysterious things. Sure the first few days of fighting hollows were exciting but the novelty quickly wore off as his mind got used to it. All that experience was quickly thrown away at what he saw before him; or rather what he saw several miles away from him. Rooted at the top of a small mountain was a tree that seemed to reach up into the heavens. Its trunk alone had to be thousands of feet tall. Casting his gaze upwards he noted that the shadows surrounding the forest came from the canopy of the enormous tree overshadowing the land for miles around.

Carefully stepping to the edge of cliff, wary of loose rocks, Ichigo peered over and saw a sheer drop for over one hundred feet before reaching the treetops.

"_**I am relieved we are finally able to meet face to face."**_

Ichigo spun around and saw a cloaked figure standing behind him, his purple hood hiding his face, "Who are you? What do you want with me?"

"_**I have failed humanity once,"**_ as the man spoke his features seemed to twist and distort like oily shadows. Slamming his staff down the man stared at Ichigo, _**"As for what I want…I would have preferred to never have met you Ichigo Kurosaki for you meeting me is perhaps the worst thing that could ever have happened in your life."**_

The seriousness in the man's tone stopped Ichigo from retorting. He couldn't explain it but something about the man made Ichigo believe him, "Fine then. You wanted to meet me so here I am. Let me ask you a question though. Are you my zanpakuto's spirit?"

Despite not being able to see the man's face Ichigo could sense he was smiling, _**"An honored notion but one that I do not deserve. I was once a guardian of my world and yet I failed in my duty when it needed me the most. The reason I have come here is to warn you Ichigo Kurosaki. The deceiver's eyes have fallen upon your world and as we speak the shadow of his army stretches over all that you know. You must find a way to flee your world before it is too late or all hope is lost."**_

A cold and stiff wind blew through the forest and Ichigo saw the sky fading to an inky blackness. Realizing he was waking up he shouted over the wind, "Who's coming?"

The man jabbed a finger at Ichigo and his voice seemed to carry over the roaring wind loud and clear, **_"Do not make the same mistake Arthas did Ichigo Kurosaki. Heed my warning and flee your world before it is too late!"_**

Desperate for answers Ichigo reached out towards the man but everything suddenly took on the consistency of syrup. The closer he got to the man the slower he moved. Just as he was about to touch the man's robes the world around him vanished and he was embraced by the dark hold of unconsciousness.

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Ichigo gasped and sat up in his bed.

Taking a few labored breaths he looked around and realized he was back in his own room. Everything seemed be in their normal and proper places and he couldn't see anything out of the ordinary. Laying back down he noticed the door to his closet was open and frowned. When had Rukia left his room? Putting that thought away for later he stared up at his ceiling and tried to recall what his dream had been about but every time he seemed to be close to remembering the memories slipped through his fingers like water. The more he tried to remember the less he could until all he could recollect was a dark forest and a mysterious stranger.

_"What a strange dream,"_ Ichigo sat on the edge of his bed and yawned. His clock said it was almost seven in the morning, which meant Yuzu should have started making breakfast. Putting on his school uniform and stretching out several kinks in his arms he couldn't help but attempt to try and understand what his dream was about. Of course he has had several vivid dreams and nightmares throughout his life but something about this one seemed to call out to him. Ichigo couldn't explain it despite his best efforts.

_"I know it was just a dream but it felt so real. If I could just remember more about it…damn it this is annoying. Perhaps Rukia might know something about this."_

As he was about to leave his room and head downstairs he heard something shift and rustle in his closet. Curious he glanced inside and a moment later Kon appeared from within a pile of his clothes. Glaring down at the mod soul inhabiting the plush body of a stuffed animal he found in a trashcan, Ichigo noticed with veiled amusement that Kon's appearance suggested he had fled from Yuzu in the middle of the night.

"Kon," Ichigo glared down at the mod soul and firmly grasped the stuffed lion's head, "What the hell are you doing in my closet?"

Kon frantically tried to free himself but found his current strength to be somewhat lacking, "It was terrible Ichigo. Your sister is a monster! She takes me and dresses me up in all these girly clothes and even dares to call me Bostov! My name is Kon not Bostov! I swear your sister is worse than a hollow! If I were you I'd-"

He was cut off as Ichigo's other hand closed around his face in a futile attempt to smother the mod soul. Ichigo knew well enough that he couldn't kill Kon when he was in such a state but it helped him to relieve a lot of stress, "The deal we had was that you'd stay with Yuzu and Karin for the next few days. Yuzu's going to get suspicious when she heads back to her room and finds you missing."

"But Ichigo-"

Ichigo didn't give Kon time to complain. In one quick motion he left his room, opened Yuzu's door and threw Kon against the back wall. Just as the mod soul recovered and made a break for the door Ichigo quickly slammed it behind him. It was a good thing Kon was unable to reach the doorknob in his current body or he could escape.

_"I should tell Yuzu and Karin to close their door at night. That way Kon won't be able to escape again."_

With the problem solved to his satisfaction for the moment Ichigo headed downstairs to the kitchen. Letting out another tired yawn he pulled out a chair at the table and plopped down, "Morning. What's for breakfast?"

Yuzu Kurosaki beamed happily at her brother, "Good morning Ichigo! Today I made scrambled eggs, toast and waffles."

Karin, Yuzu's twin sister, grumbled angrily, "We would have had bacon but old goatface had to go and eat it all last night. I made sure to teach him to not do that again."

Ichigo nodded and was about to eat when he noticed the television was on. While that wasn't that uncommon in the morning, his dad liked to listen to the early news to see how Karakura Town was, the fact that the local program wasn't centered on his town was strangely curious.

"Turn that up."

Without even looking away from her breakfast Karin grabbed the remote off the table and pressed the mute button. Instantly the program restarted midsentence.

"…_word on the cause of the blackouts and power outages across the world. So far the scope has been limited to only a couple of dozen cities and towns across the world but government officials are certain these outages are not the work of either domestic or foreign terrorists. One of this studio's sources, an engineer working for the Tokyo Electric Power Company, states that what happened is similar to an electric surge but says the safety of the nuclear reactors was not compromised by the unprecedented event. For more on how the world is dealing with this strange occurrence we go to our American correspondent in Washington."_

The reporter disappeared and was replaced by a man standing in front of a government building, _"The latest word from the American government is that the problems were caused by global electromagnetic interference similar to what caused the 1989 Quebec blackout. Authorities urge citizens to remain calm. They are certain that areas without power will have it restored before the end of the day. On a related note__ scientists at NASA are mystified as to how this could occur when no such solar phenomenon has been observed…__"_

Karin glanced over his shoulder at the television when she noticed Ichigo's transfixed gaze, "That's been all they've talked about since I turned it on. Apparently it's happening all over the world. I texted a friend who's in France and she says half of Paris is without power. Ruined her entire trip too."

"Odd…"

Ichigo couldn't shake the nagging feeling that something was off about the whole mess. It was one thing to have an unexplained blackout in one country but for it to happen all over the world at the same time? The odds of that occurring were astronomical. For a moment he couldn't help but remember what he could of his dream and of the forgotten warning but in the end he simply shrugged and went back to eating. The problem was going to be fixed in a couple of hours so there would be no point in worrying about it.

"Well I'm off to school."

Grabbing his bag from the nearby counter he slung it over his shoulder and waved goodbye, "If you see dad tell him I might be a little late coming home tonight. I have a class project to work on with Chad and Orihime. I should be back around dinner at the latest."

After Yuzu handed him his lunch Ichigo decided he might as well leave for school. Although he usually left a couple of minutes later he had nothing better to do and he might even be able to take a nap once he got there. Leaving through the front door, and making sure it was locked behind him, he turned to walk down the street when he saw Orihime and Tatsuki waiting in front of his house. Initially engrossed in conversation, Orihime perked up when she saw Ichigo's orange hair and waved.

"Good morning Ichigo!"

Ichigo raised a hand in return, "Hey Orihime, Tatsuki. What are you doing here?"

Orihime opened her mouth to answer but Tatsuki quickly covered it with her hand, "Orihime wanted to walk with you to school. I tried to dissuade her but she was adamant about it."

"Whatever," Ichigo shrugged. He hadn't even been up for an hour and yet the day was turning out to be really weird. His only hope was that it didn't get any weirder or he might not make it through the day with his sanity intact.

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"Can anyone tell me how you would solve problem ten on page 132?"

Ichigo gazed out the classroom window and tried to drown out his teacher's, Misato Ochi, voice. Usually he would be able to pay attention but something seemed off about everything today. He really couldn't describe it but it was almost as if the atmosphere was charged with energy and was set to go off any moment.

"_I wonder if it has anything to do with that dream?"_ Ichigo was not one to believe in dreams predicting the future but he couldn't shake off the feeling that something was going to go wrong. After fighting hollows that could shoot beams of energy, turn invisible, or even create living bombs he didn't take anything his instincts told him for granted.

"Alright then," Ms. Ochi slammed the textbook she was holding shut. It seemed that, as usual, no one had volunteered to give her the answer, "Ok then. Since you are all too lazy to raise your hands I'm just going to pick out one of her at random. Let's see here. Today's lucky student is-"

She was cut off as the lights in the room flickered twice before cutting out entirely. Amidst the muttering of his fellow students Ichigo sat at attention and glanced through the window. He was lucky that Ms. Ochi's classroom happened to face the street in front of Karakura High School because Ichigo could see the blackout wasn't just limited to the school. Every street and building as far as he could see was without power. In the distance he could hear the sound of cars breaking and horns honking as drivers desperately swerved to avoid hitting each other.

Back in the classroom various students were whispering to each other about the loss of power.

"It's happening here too?"

"Why would it affect Karakura Town now?"

"What's going to happen now?"

"That's enough!"

Ms. Ochi's voice boom with authority rarely seen in her classroom and it quickly shut down the various comments and whispers drifting around. With the full attention of her students focused entirely on her she glared at several particular students, daring them to try and speak out of line. When her gaze turned to Ichigo he simply rolled his eyes and looked away.

"Now that I have your attention," Ms. Ochi's opened her text book again, "It appears the building has lost power. Consider it a good thing that we have plenty of sunlight to continue the class. Now then, the lucky student to answer this question shall be-"

"_Attention students and faculty,"_ the loudspeaker positioned about the door sparked a moment before the principal's voice sounded, _"As you have noticed the power in the school, as well as in most of Karakura Town, has been lost. Due to concerns with the timescale needed to restore power as well as the safety of the students all classes are hereby suspended for the rest of the day."_

At the announcement most of the students began whispering excitedly amongst themselves about going home early. Foremost among them was Keigo, who had leapt out of his desk and into the air in celebration about having no school. Ichigo simply stared at him as a book sailed through the air and make contact with Keigo's face. Watching his friend slowly float to the floor unconscious Ichigo turned towards whoever had thrown the book. He might not condone attacking those too weak to fight back but he needed to congratulate whoever had managed to finally shut Keigo up before he could go into one of his rather annoying rants.

"Now then…" Ms. Ochi was visibly seething with rage at her class being interrupted not once, but twice. Lowering her outstretch arm from when she had thrown her textbook at Keigo she took a moment to compose herself before speaking. Hitting Keigo was one thing since everyone did it but trying to do the same to anyone else was bad, "Since it appears we will not be finishing class today I am assigning chapter 7 for homework tonight. I expect the homework on my desk first thing tomorrow morning! Someone make sure to tell Mr. Asano when he regains consciousness. I don't want him whining to me yet again."

As Ms. Ochi stomped out of the room Ichigo leaned back in his chair and sighed. This whole day was rather odd and it seemed to only be getting stranger.

"Hey."

Ichigo turned at the deep voice and saw Chad standing next to his desk, "Hey Chad. What's up?"

Before answering Chad looked across the classroom at Orihime, who in celebration of school being canceled had whipped out her custom-made lunch. Ichigo tried to get a glimpse of whatever she had conjured up but it looked nothing like any food he had seen before. As they watched Tatsuki try to avoid eating any of Orihime's culinary meals Chad continued, "Orihime…seems to be taking this in stride."

"Nothing ever bothers her," Ichigo folded his arms behind his head, "Besides it's just a power outage. It's not like the world is ending or anything. Remember last summer when we lost power? Same thing."

"I suppose you have a point," even when he admitted he was wrong Chad's voice still sounded bored, "Do you think the library will be open?"

"Unless books started to require power to read then yes."

Chad nodded, "Then I'll meet you and Orihime there around four. I have some things to do beforehand."

Ichigo watched Chad walk away before sighing and turning his attention to the clock on the wall. It was only eleven in the morning and yet he was bored. If Rukia had gone off to who knows where he could go out and hunt down some hollows. Although, propping his head on an arm and closing his eyes, without all the work of saving souls he could take a nap. Without Rukia's persisting voice and Keigo's annoying one he might finally get some decent sleep, especially after last night.

"Ichigo!"

Ichigo's face froze up at the familiar voice, _"You have got to be kidding me? Did she wait for me to relax before showing up?"_

The whole class turned towards the door as the sound of someone running grew louder and louder before suddenly growing quiet again. Everyone waited for bated breath for what was about to happen. A moment later and out of nowhere the door to the classroom was slammed open and Rukia Kuchiki, fellow student at Karakura High School and depowered shinigami, stalked inside with her gaze firmly set on Ichigo.

"Come on Ichigo! We have to go."

"Like hell I'm going anywhere with you, you midget," Ichigo turned his head even further away from Rukia. He didn't want to deal with this crap today and besides, Rukia's voice was giving him a headache, "Why don't you find someone else to go play around with?"

Due to having turned his head away Ichigo did not see Rukia's face turn beet red from embarrassment but he did manage to hear her incomprehensible muttering and curses before she sprinted over to him. Luckily for him he had spent the last few weeks as a substitute shinigami and so his reflexes, even in his human body, were several times greater than the average human. Just as Rukia reached him and went to grab his collar he leaned back and watched her sail harmlessly in front of his desk. For a moment everything seemed to freeze.

Then Rukia's other hand, the one he hadn't seen, reached out and grabbed the front of his shirt.

"You're coming with me!" with nearly superhuman strength Rukia pulled Ichigo out of his desk and started dragging him towards the classroom door.

"Hey! Let go of me you crazy midget!"

Everyone that was left in the classroom watched Rukia drag Ichigo through the door and down the hallway, his screams of protest continuing to grow dimmer by the second. While they all were wondering what that was all about it was Orihime, her mouth stuffed with what one could only hope was bread, to ask it out loud.

"Do you think Rukia and Ichigo are dating?"

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* * *

Ichigo wanted to yell at Rukia for almost killing him. He was also playing with the notion of running her through with his zanpakuto for dragging him out of school and halfway across Karakura Town before using her glove to separate his soul from his body. For a girl not even half his size Rukia was surprisingly strong when she needed to be. The only thing stopping him was that as soon as she had removed his soul Rukia had turned around and began playing around with her Denreishinki, all the while cursing when it didn't work as she intended it to.

Standing several feet away, watching Rukia smack her Denreishinki a few times with her hand, was Ichigo with a deadpan look on his face. Scratching the back of his neck in confusion he looked around Karakura Town from the rooftop he was on but couldn't sense any hollows for miles. Usually he could feel their presence like a pinprick in the back of his mind but it usually took Rukia's help to pinpoint its position down. Today there was nothing out there, which meant Rukia had dragged him out here for an entirely different reason.

Decided to cut to the chance he asked, "What's got you all hot and bothered?"

Rukia pouted as she fumbled around with something on her Denreishinki, "It's the Soul Society."

"The Soul Society?" Ichigo had heard Rukia mention that place a few times. Apparently it was the afterlife where good souls go and the shinigami live, "Isn't that the place where you come from? What's the matter?"

Rukia ignored his stupid question in order to focus on trying to fix whatever was wrong with her Denreishinki. As her fingers danced on the keys Ichigo remembered when he had grown curious about the device and tried to see how it works. He had quickly found out that while it might look like a phone and could make phone calls there were a lot of features and functions that he couldn't make heads or tails of. One of which was a GPS like function that tracked down hollows but seemed to always go on the fritz whenever he opened it up.

When he had told Rukia this she simply laughed and told him to never touch her stuff again.

"It all started last night," Rukia's Denreishinki pinged a few times before going silent. Letting loose a curse from her lips Rukia sighed and closed the device, "I was in the middle of a call with the Soul Society when suddenly I could hear nothing but static before that too stopped. I tried calling back a few times but nothing."

"Are you sure your phone isn't just dead?"

A glare from Rukia shut him up, "You think I didn't think of that? That was the first thing I thought of! I went to Kisuke Urahara's shop and asked for a temporary replacement but that too didn't work. Whatever's going on in the Soul Society is not just affecting me. Anything and everything that usually came from there has stopped abruptly. What was strange was that I was able to get into contact with the shinigami on duty from the next district over. They said the same thing; all orders and reports from the Soul Society stopped suddenly after last night."

"_Last night…"_

This couldn't be just a simple coincidence anymore. Ichigo was sure of that. He could place his dream as being a result of stress from trying to juggle his shinigami activities with his schoolwork and the blackouts to be something way above his head. The problem with the Soul Society though, something about it just seemed wrong.

"I wonder if this is related," he muttered but apparently Rukia still heard him.

"Related to what?"

Ichigo grimaced as he was forced to answer, "The timing of your trouble contacting the Soul Society lines up with several major blackouts across the world. Several places, including Karakura Town, have lost power for no reason and no one knows why."

Rukia looked at his with one raised eyebrow, "It could be related but I fail to see how something could affect both the World of the Living as well as the Soul Society at the same time."

"What if it's not?"

"What do you mean?"

Ichigo folded his arms across his chest as he explained his theory, "What if the problem is not in the Soul Society? If something was powerful enough to knock out power across the world then couldn't it do the same to the connection your Denreishinki has with the Soul Society?"

Rukia's hand drifted to her chin as realization hit her, "That actually makes sense Ichigo. The problem is the amount of power needed to sever all connections between the two worlds. Knocking out human electronics is one thing but the Soul Society's Denreishinki do not run on simple electronics."

"You have a better theory?"

"No but there has to be a logical explanation for what is happening. The Soul Society has existed for millennia, it wouldn't just vanish overnight."

"Whatever," Ichigo shrugged his shoulders and turned towards the edge of the roof to leave. As he stepped onto the raised edge of the roof he felt a hand grab his shihakusho and quickly yank him back.

"Just where do you think you're going?"

Ichigo struggled to pull himself out of Rukia's surprisingly tight grip, "I'm heading home to get my body back from Kon. This pointless little detour has almost made me late to meet Chad and Orihime. You can find the way down from here can't you?"

Rukia stomped her foot on the roof, "That's not the point! You're the shinigami watching over Karakura Town so it's your duty to take on all my responsibilities, including the ones involving the Soul Society!"

"Like hell I am!" Ichigo crossed his arms in front of his body in an 'X', "I'm only doing this to keep my family and Karakura Town safe from hollows until you get your powers back! I'm not getting paid for this so you can forget making me do any extra work."

Before she could say anything Ichigo leapt off the roof and landed on an adjacent building. Pushing power to his legs he quickly made his way across Karakura Town towards his house. Hopefully he could make it back, remove Kon from his body, and get to the library before it was too late.

"Get back here!" before Rukia could respond Ichigo had leapt off the roof and onto an adjacent building. Rushing to the edge with a tick mark on her forehead she yelled, "You make a lousy shinigami!"

"I'm only a substitute so it doesn't matter what you think!" was Ichigo's nonchalant reply.

As he jumped from roof to roof, leaving Rukia far behind in the process, Ichigo couldn't help but feel something off about everything going on. He had accepted that his life would become a little stranger when he temporarily took over Rukia's shinigami duties after a hollow attacked his family but that paled in comparison to the strangeness hovering in the atmosphere. He couldn't explain why a simply power outage had his nerves frayed. It was something that happened but this time he couldn't help but feel something else besides a faulty power grid was the cause.

"_I'm probably just over thinking things. No one said that being a shinigami was easy,"_ Ichigo pushed off the edge of a shop's roof to land on a building several dozen meters away. As his sandaled foot touched the concrete roof he felt a pulse of power radiate through his body.

"_What the hell?"_

Skidding to a stop Ichigo looked around for the source of the power but found nothing out of the ordinary. Remembering the lesson Rukia had taught him about concentrating mentally to locate spiritually powerful beings Ichigo closed his eyes and took a deep breath. What would have normally taken only a split second to a competent shinigami took Ichigo several long seconds and even then he was unable to pinpoint the source as anything more accurate than coming from the east. Without a second thought given towards Chad and Orihime, Ichigo took off in search of the power source. Something about it felt off and he needed to figure out what it was.

When he arrived at the spot where he had last sensed the power Ichigo first noticed that it was quiet.

With a hand on his zanpakuto he glanced from side to side, "Where is everyone?"

The entire street was empty aside from several cars that seemed to have been abandoned in the heat of the moment. Walking past one of them Ichigo noticed that the car was still on and the keys still in the ignition. Whatever had happened here had been dangerous or important enough to cause people to leave their cars with the keys still inside. Turning the corner Ichigo nearly lost his lunch at what he saw.

"_The fuck happened here?"_

Ichigo wasn't one to curse. It was perhaps one of the few lessons his father had ingrained into his mind that Ichigo followed but the scene in front of him deserved nothing less. There were dozens of bodies littering the road and sidewalks and most of them seemed to have been sliced to pieces. Swallowing nervously and gingerly stepping around the bodies Ichigo stepped up to a body that seemed to be burning with a green flame. Putting his hand close to the fire he almost immediately recoiled when a sense of wrongness radiated up his arm.

"Wait a second. Where are all the souls?"

He learned an unfortunate part of being a shinigami a few days after agreeing to take up the job when he was came upon a major car accident that left seven people that included two children dead. Seeing their spirits that matched the appearance of their mangled bodies was almost enough to get him to give up his powers but Rukia had told him that upon being sent to the Soul Society they would be completely healed of their injuries.

Shaking his head to clear out the images of the desecrated bodies Ichigo looked down the street and noticed all of the people seemed to have been fleeing from a certain direction. Taking off in a light run he was determined to find what caused all this needless death and make them pay. He found the likely cause quickly enough. Four police cars and the bodies of nearly a dozen officers were gathered around an alley. Several of the officers seemed to have been skewered with a blade sharp enough to pierce through their kevlar armor like it was tissue while two others burned with the unholy green flames. Looking inside the alley, a hand on his zanpakuto just in case, Ichigo quickly found what was hopefully the cause of this mess.

Riddled with too many bullet holes to count was what appeared to be a woman at first glance but Ichigo quickly saw that she had four more arms than a person should ever have and was nearly twenty-five feet tall. The creature, for that was what Ichigo was going to refer to it until he could find out what the hell it actually was, was slumped against the far wall of the alley its six hands limply holding on to the shattered remains of bronze and orange swords. Carefully stepping over the bodies of the police Ichigo headed into the alley but not before taking a quick look around. As his feet stepped on spent bullet cases he reached the corpse of the creature and took a good look at it.

It was definitely female with light purple skin. Its chest and body structure could attest to that. Quickly skipping over the skimpy and revealing outfit that covered little more than her shoulders, chest, and nether regions Ichigo looked at her eyes and saw pure white orbs that glowed with the same green light as the fire burning some of the bodies he saw.

"I don't suppose you were the one that did that to those people?" he muttered down, or rather up, at the corpse. Standing back up and gripping his zanpakuto with one hand Ichigo turned to leave the ally. Rukia needed to know about this and fast. These creatures were tough and powerful but worst of all regular humans could see them. He hated to admit this but he was out of his league.

"_If it took nearly twelve cops to take down one of these bastards then I hope there aren't that many more of them."_

A series of explosions caused him to snap his neck in its direction. Unsheathing his zanpakuto he quickly ran towards the pillar of rising smoke in the distance. He wouldn't let any more people die to whatever these creatures are. As Ichigo leapt onto the roof of a nearby building he couldn't help but imagine the sky being a sickly shade of green.

* * *

...

* * *

It was chaos throughout downtown Karakura Town.

Tatsuki and Orihime had planned on down some light shopping after eating lunch. Despite Orihime's protests that she already had lunch Tatsuki would have none of it. What her best friend cooked up was not considered food by anyone she had ever met. They had just walked into one of the many department stores in search of something nice when Orihime looked up at the sky and pointed out how the sky is a nice shade of emerald green. Tatsuki had believed Orihime to be in one of her daydream fantasies involving Ichigo yet again when she looked around and noticed a lot of other people looking and pointing at the sky. Casting her gaze upwards Tatsuki gasped when she saw the sky was not only green but also seemed to be swirling around a center point much like a whirlpool.

They didn't even see it coming. One minute the sky was normal, except for the color, and the next green meteors were raining downwards and crashing into buildings and the streets. The worst was when everyone realized they weren't meteors but actually demons.

That was when the massacre started.

"Come on Orihime!" Tatsuki pulled hard on her friend's wrist as they ran down the street opposite of where the demons had landed. She knew they weren't running to safety. They had seen meteors falling throughout the entire city but Tatsuki was certain that they could hide from them if they stayed out of sight. The only problem was that one of the demons that had landed near the shopping center had shifting its entire focus onto them and had been following them for the last three blocks at a leisurely pace. The bastard was getting a kick out of seeing them flee in fear.

"_God damn it,"_ Tatsuki vaulted over a destroyed car and saw, to her surprise, Orihime leap onto the hood and back onto the street. Orihime was a lot more agile than Tatsuki gave her credit for, "We need to lose this guy Orihime!"

"How Tatsuki?" Orihime glanced back and saw the demon cleave through the car with one of its cursed blades as if the steel was butter.

"I don't know," Tatsuki didn't know how they could fight an actual demon but she needed to keep Orihime from panicking. Her friend was only a step away from a full-blown meltdown, "But I have an idea. We just need to lose this guy for a second."

"Ah!"

Tatsuki's eyes widened at Orihime's scream and she skidded to a stop. Turning around she saw that Orihime had tripped over the burnt remains of some poor soul and, while she wasn't hurt, it had given the demon enough time to catch up to them. Eyes wide in terror, Orihime watched as the ten-foot tall demon loomed over her body, its rune-engraved suit of armor and demonic horns only adding to the horror and fear she felt. As the demon cackled and raised a sword to decapitate her Orihime closed her eyes as she heard Tatsuki screaming her name.

"_Please let this be painless…"_

After several agonizing seconds of feeling no pain Orihime began to think that dying was completely painless. It was only when several shots rang out that she opened her eyes and saw the demon collapsing to the ground with several bullet holes in its head and chest. As her stunned mind tried to get a grip on what happened she felt a pair of hands pull her up off the ground.

"Are you ok?"

With terror-stricken eyes Orihime turned and saw that her rescuer was a police officer and behind him were nearly a dozen cars with three times that number of cops. Each of them was covered head to toe in ballistic armor and seemed to all have weapons that could blow a hole through solid rock.

"What's going on?"

"There's no time to explain," the cop herded her and Tatsuki towards the line of cars. Along the way they heard the roars of several demons attempting to reach them only to be cut down by the collective firepower. The Karakura Town Police Department had learned the demons were effectively immune to small caliber rounds and had given more deadly weapons to as many of its officers as it could.

The cop continued to push them forward until they had passed through the line of cars and officers. Waving over an officer covered in riot armor he said, "Take these two to the rest of the refugees."

The officer snapped off a salute, "Yes sir."

"Refugees?" Tatsuki struggled to turn around, "What the hell is happening here?"

"It's not just here," the officer escorting them answered, "These creatures have been appearing all over the world starting about ten minutes ago. We're evacuating Karakura Town before the Americans start their airstrike."

"Airstrike?" Tatsuki couldn't believe this was happening.

"Like I just said, this is happening all over the world," the cop shoved them inside a waiting van filled with other refugees. Closing the door and slamming his hand twice on the side he watched the van speed off towards the outskirts of Karakura Town. Giving them a silent prayer that they arrive safely he turned around and jogged back to the front lines.

* * *

**...**

* * *

Ichigo was starting to wish he had kept his mouth shut about everything being too easy.

He was brought out of his thoughts as what looked like a succubus snapped her whip at him. As it wrapped around his forearm she gave a lusty chuckle and tried to pull him off balance. It turned out that the succubus had severely underestimated Ichigo's strength because he didn't budge one inch. Instead he spun his arm around and gripped the whip before giving a hearty tug. The succubus cried out as she was pulled into the air. That cry quickly turned into a choked gasp as Ichigo impaled her through the chest on his zanpakuto.

Pushing the body of his blade with his foot he turned around and ignored the wet squishing sound the succubus's body made and the purple blood oozing over his zanpakuto. He couldn't afford to be squeamish when everything was on the line. It didn't help that these demons had an insane regeneration speed. He tried to simply disable them but their wounds would quickly heal and they would try and fight him again.

These demons were showing no mercy to those he had saved as well as those he had failed to rescue. The least he could do to avenge the fallen is to show an equal amount of mercy. That did not mean he didn't feel anything. Every demon he killed reminded him that power came with a cost and that if he hadn't been given Rukia's shinigami power he would be as helpless as those he saved.

"Damn it," he wiped a droplet of purple blood off his cheek. As powerful as the demons were, when they died they tended to do so violently, "Just how many of these things are there?"

It hadn't been long after finding that dead demon's body that Ichigo had run into still living ones. As he had made his way towards the source of the explosion he had been forced to dodge several meteors that suddenly began raining down from the sky. It was only when he had been forced to dodge several fireballs that he realized the meteors were actually demons and, what was worse, was that they were targeting anyone they found. Unable to let that go he had quickly leapt down to stop them.

A green glow to his left stopped his train of thought. Quickly leaping back as a wave of sickly green fire sprung into existence where his feet had just been Ichigo turned and saw a wrathguard staring at him from down the street.

Holding his zanpakuto in front of his body with both hands Ichigo taunted the demon, "Almost had me tough guy but I think your vision's bad."

The wrathguard didn't say anything as a low growling emerged from its throat. Ichigo watched as it reached for one of its swords, currently embedded in a corpse, and pulled it out with a wet tearing sound. Walking towards Ichigo, while making sure to give the dead body a kick for good measure, the wrathguard issued him a roar of challenge before sprinting at him.

With a shout Ichigo swung his zanpakuto upwards in an arc just as the wrathguard came down with its weapons. The two weapons met in a shower of sparks and Ichigo could have sworn he heard the demon growl angrily when his zanpakuto didn't shatter during the exchange.

"What's the matter?" Ichigo pushing more power into his attack and was relieved to see the wrathguard's arms slowly being forced upwards despite its muscles visibly straining, "Having trouble fighting one simple human? Not so easy when we fight back is it?"

The wrathguard roared and with a considerable amount of effort pushed Ichigo back before raising a clawed hand and pointing it at the substitute shinigami. Ichigo saw the attack coming and quickly leapt into the air as the wave of felfire crackled only inches from his feet. As he sailed through the air and swung his zanpakuto downwards the demon had no time to react or defend before its body was split in two nearly vertically, the soul blade searing right through both demonic armor and flesh like they were paper.

With a dispassionate look Ichigo rested his zanpakuto on his shoulder while he watched the two halves of the wrathguard fall to the ground, "These guys always seem to be so surprised when my zanpakuto cuts them."

It was odd how every demon seemed to think they were invincible right until they were killed. It was almost as if they thought he couldn't hurt them. Momentarily free from combat Ichigo looked up at the swirling green sky. It was becoming painfully obvious that unless something was done about the sky the demons would simply keep raining down onto the Earth. Cursing as he witnessed several meteors lands close by Ichigo turned and began running down the street. If he was lucky he could reach the demons before they had a chance to hurt or kill anyone.

A series of hauntingly familiar laughter down the street caused Ichigo to leap back. It was fortunate that he did so because not even a second after his feet left the ground a bolt composed of actual shadows crashed into the pavement.

Skidding to a stop Ichigo saw stalking towards him in a very disturbing manner a demon similar to the one in the alley except she was nearly five feet taller, had pale gray skin and was much more modestly dressed.

"**This is a much…unusual occurrence,"** the demon's voice spoke in almost an erotic tone, **"So what shall it be…business or pleasure**?"

Ichigo didn't answer as he held his zanpakuto in front of his body. Somehow he knew this fight would be much more difficult than his previous ones and that wasn't taking into account the exhaustion he could feel creeping into his bones. As the demon laughed and ran towards him Ichigo only hoped his friends and family were able to make it out of Karakura Town safely.

* * *

...

* * *

Kil'jaeden was greatly displeased with how the invasion of this world was going.

After the last two debacles by the Burning Legion, neither of which he was in charge of, that resulted with Archimonde's death he had shifted his policies around when invading new planets. Rather than simply attacking with overwhelming force like they did in the past he would send several Nathrezim to the planet to check for any threats to an invasion. They would be specifically ordered not to engage in any covert or overt activities. There were to do nothing more than try and find if there were any sources of resistance that might hinder the invasion. If Azeroth had taught the demon lord anything it was better to be safe than sorry. He may have an infinite number of demons under his control but his pride couldn't take a loss. If there were issues with the planet he would hold back on the invasion until plans could be made for taking out anyone in their path. What he found on this world was no different.

Over two thousands years of planning and yet he is forced to limp back to the Twisting Nether with massive injuries and burns.

"_Whichever Nathrezim said the Soul Society would be simple to invade is going to face a painful eternity of torment."_

The first part of the invasion, destroying those that called themselves captains or whatever, proceeded normally and according to plan. While several of the so-called captains possessed interesting abilities such as conjuring giants to fight for them, summoning ice dragons and even reflecting attacks back at their opponent it was nothing Kil'jaeden could not handle with sheer overwhelming force. While skill and technique is important when dealing with a being of equal power these shinigami were far from being a challenge to the eredar demon lord. Even that one captain who could cast near perfect illusions deserved no more than a footnote in his thoughts. An illusion is just an illusion no matter how powerful it is and Kil'jaeden had fought enough beings that could wield such magicks that he easily tore apart the illusions before a simple Armageddon spell put an end to the man. What nearly killed him was the old man in charge.

Kil'jaeden didn't get where he was by underestimating his opponents. He knew the old man was the leader of the Soul Society and thus he had to have enough power to keep the rest of his army in line. Therefore Kil'jaeden decided to honor the old man the only way he knew how – overwhelming power. He had rushed forward, arcane magic sparking across his clawed fingers when he saw the old man draw his sword and utter a single word. Kil'jaeden had not been able to hear it but instantly the entire world began to feel hot despite the lack of flames. The last time he had felt such heat was in the presence of his master. It was only on instinct that he moved to the side as the old man swung his charred blade. The devastation from the attack reached across the Soul Society and led to the deaths of thousands of his demons. While that was but a drop in the metaphorical ocean it was still more power than Kil'jaeden would like to admit. Unwilling to let the old man get another clean shot Kil'jaeden began summoning the vast reservoirs of arcane and fel magic at his disposal.

The battle that followed not only killed the old man and left Kil'jaeden greatly injured it also completely destroyed most of the Soul Society, rendering it useless to the Burning Legion in any way. Kil'jaeden knew his master would be furious at the loss of such an asset after years of planning but Kil'jaeden did not worry. The death of the old man was enough of a consolation prize to save him from any punishment. The man could have been a thorn in the Burning Legion's side if he ever managed to reach another world. Pragmatism dictated he take action to alleviate such worries.

The fact that he also destroyed the city hiding under the Soul Society was a nice touch if the eredar demon lord could say so himself. Those pesky humans he discovered down there had tried to fire bolts of magic at his demonic troops. While a noble and intelligent effort it was futile. He made sure his demons massacred each and every one of them. If what he could skim from their minds they would never bow down to the Legion even if they were corrupted. Kil'jaeden wasn't going to take any chance of betrayal but when he felt a presence similar in strength to the old man he quickly pulled out of the shadow world and collapsed the dimension.

He may be a demon lord but he was far from stupid. The odds of winning the fight against this second opponent were still stacked in his favor but he could no longer guarantee victory. Collapsing the dimension would make sure to do the job. He had to give credit to their leader. If he hadn't created the dimension in the first place then Kil'jaeden couldn't have collapsed it. A post-mortem thanks would be all the man received.

The creatures in that other plane, hollows his Nathrezim called them, they were of some interest to the eradar demon lord but in the end he had destroyed them all the same. While the millions, perhaps billions, of hollows could have been an asset to the Burning Legion the fact that most of them were mindless and were as likely to attack his own demons as much as his enemies made them a liability. Even those that could speak and think weren't worth the effort of recruiting so he simply destroyed Hueco Mundo and moved on. He had taken a small amount of pleasure in destroying that one hollow who deemed himself a god just because he could speed up and slow down time. Kil'jaeden had destroyed him without so much as a second thought for what was 100 years of aging to someone who had lived over 25 millennium already?

Relaxing his body in the comfort of the Twisting Nether as he recovered from his injuries, Kil'jaeden began to mentally command his more…devastating forces towards this world. With all the significant resistances eliminated there would be no need to hold back his valuable troops any more.

"The brief hope of victory this world may have had is gone…all that is left is death and destruction…"

* * *

...

* * *

In one of the quieter parts of Karakura Town where the demons had already rampaged through and killed everyone that remained there were a series of explosions. Out of the last explosion, which burned with the familiar color of fel corruption, Ichigo leapt into the air and onto a nearby roof. While he was not injured physically his shihakusho had seen better days. His entire left sleeve was missing and parts of his legs were exposed when he had bee forced to bear the brunt of a demon's magical attacks.

With an angry shout Ichigo thrust his zanpakuto through the stomach of the demon in front of him. The demon, a shivarra it had called itself, had spent the last two minutes toying around with him. More than once it, or she, would make him think he was about to get a clean hit only to dodge or parry the strike. It had taken him everything to get the demon in a position where it couldn't dodge and the shivarra's eyes widened in shock at the pain radiating from her wound. Sputtering out saliva mixed with purple blood she tried to grasp his blade with two of her free hands.

"**But I…wasn't finished…"**

In a desperate move to take him down with her the shivarra raised a trembling arm but before it could get more than a few inches off the ground her strength failed and she slumped unmoving. Ichigo watched her still-impaled body for several seconds before pressing a foot on her chest and pulling his zanpakuto out with a wet squish. With a quick flick his zanpakuto was cleaned of the purple blood coating it.

"Damn it," Ichigo wavered as exhaustion began creeping up on him. The fight against the shivarra had taken more out of him than he would admit. She was much stronger, faster, and smarter than the other demons he had fought. She had to have been a commander or something because when she decided to fight the other demons surrounding him backed off in fear. Taking a cold look at her cooling corpse on the roof Ichigo only hoped her death would cause the rest of the demons to either hesitate to fight or flee entirely. Taking a few deep breaths to regain some of his stamina Ichigo began walking towards the edge of the roof when he realized something was terribly wrong.

The sun had disappeared.

Looking upwards he gasped as he saw that it wasn't the sun that had disappeared but a large meteor was hurdling towards the earth. He watched as it sped overhead and crashed into the far reaches of Karakura Town with a much lesser impact than he would have assumed. He saw quickly that the reason it hadn't destroyed everything for miles around it was because it wasn't a meteor but an extremely large demon that towered over nearly every building in the city. The demon was unlike anything he had seen before. It's body resembled a mutated and deformed lizard with two pairs of small, vestigial wings erupting from its back that were each larger than his house. What was troubling him the most was the large sword held in the demon's hands.

With a sadistic chuckle the annihilan pit lord began swinging the massive blade around, destroying several buildings every swing. Swallowing nervously out of fear Ichigo quickly gathered his courage and began trying to figure out how he would take something like that down. While its height was comparable to the Menos Grande he had fought there was no doubt that this demon was both smarter and stronger than the hollow. Despite the odds stacked against him Ichigo believed that defeating something like that would most likely end the battle.

"Do not be foolish Ichigo Kurosaki."

The familiarity of the voice startled Ichigo. Turning around he saw the man from his dream slowly walking towards him, his staff gently tapping on the concrete, "Do not confuse bravery with foolishness. You must know you do not stand a chance against an annihilan."

"I don't care what you think I can do," Ichigo turned away from the man and glared at the pit lord cutting a swath of destruction in the distance. Gripping his zanpakuto almost to the point of drawing blood he said, "I'll find out whatever you know after I'm done dealing with that thing."

If Ichigo was expecting the man to be put off by him he was surprised when the man's gaze simply shifted away from him and to the pit lord, "That 'thing' as you call it is what is known as an annihilan pit lord. Unlike the rest of their demonic kin the annihilan do not possess endless numbers. Their appearance on your world is an indication that the Burning Legion has destroyed any and all worthwhile resistance it might have faced."

"People are dying you bastard! I have to do something!" Ichigo tried to leap off the roof towards the pit lord but found his feet stuck to the roof. At first confused as to why he couldn't move, his confusion turned to anger when he saw the man's palm pointing at him and glowing a faint bluish-purple, "Damn it! Why are you stopping me from helping those people?"

"You will listen to what I have to say Ichigo Kurosaki. If you decide to embark on such a suicidal fight afterwards I will not stop you."

Ichigo tested out the bonds holding his legs to the roof. Whatever it was that was preventing him from leaving was similar to Rukia's kido but at the same time was more powerful, "How can you expect me to just stand here and talk while these demons are destroying my world?"

"I expect you to think Ichigo Kurosaki," for the first time the man's tone had a hint of anger and it hit Ichigo like a stone. The sheer authority and power the man possessed was otherworldly, "This is not just a random demonic incursion from the Twisting Nether that can be repelled with numbers and power. The Burning Legion's numbers are infinite. For every demon you cut down today twenty more has taken their place."

"Burning Legion?" Ichigo tried to push spiritual pressure into his legs like Rukia told him to increase his strength but the magic holding him did not budge.

"I had hoped my warning would reach you well in advance," the man seemingly ignored Ichigo's question, "I had hoped to speak to you weeks ago but I underestimated the distance between your world and my own. Still, that would not have caused such a large change but it wasn't until I physically arrived minutes ago that I realized how this happened. Kil'jaeden the Deceiver, one of the leaders of the Burning Legion, is here spearheading the invasion personally."

"Kil'jaeden?"

The man sensed the intent behind Ichigo's question, "Do you intend to face Kil'jaeden? The Deceiver's strength is akin to a god. He could personally destroy an annihilan with but a wave of his hand. If you could even reach Kil'jaeden you would be nothing more than an ant to him."

The man tapped his staff on the roof and released Ichigo from his magic, "I regret to say that there is nothing that can be done at this point to save your world. I do not know how or why the Deceiver came to your world but the fact remains that he did and now your world's time has come to an end. He will show no mercy as he kills every living thing on this world until nothing remains but rock and ash."

Even though he was free to leave Ichigo didn't even think of doing so as he collapse to his knees, the weight of what the man just said pressing down on his soul. Clenching his fists and gritting his teeth he said, "Who the fuck do you think you are to say that? How can say that all the demons I killed and every person I saved amounted to nothing in the end? What kind of person are you?"

"Do not confuse my honesty for apathy," that man's voice seemed insulted by Ichigo's question, "I did not say what I did out of a need to crush your spirit or resolve. I said it in order to make you understand what is going to happen. Sugarcoating the truth will simply harm you in the end."

Ichigo did not move or say a word after the man finished speaking. His mind was still trying, and failing, to come to grips with what was happening all around him. Memories of his family and friends kept appearing in his head and how they were all dead were beginning to tear him apart.

"Get up Ichigo."

In his despair Ichigo hadn't noticed the man approach him, "I cannot say that I understand your pain even though I have felt similar anguish in the past. It is one thing to be the cause of your pain but it is much worse to fail in the end after doing everything you can. You need to accept what has happened this day."

"Are…" Ichigo took a moment to gather his thoughts, "Are you saying to just forget about them?"

"Memories are a precious thing," The man turned from Ichigo and pointed his staff across the roof, "Death is never easy to come to terms with. The weak always think death comes for them while the strong believe they can outwit it. Do not ever forget those you cared for Ichigo Kurosaki. Cherish your memories for as long as you can."

A purple bolt of magic shot from the man's staff and flew through the air before abruptly stopping and expanding into a portal. When the man spoke it was a voice filled with regret, "Through this portal lies my home world. I cannot say what you will find on the other end or where you will even end up. The choice is yours Ichigo Kurosaki. You can take the portal to Azeroth, which has thrice defied the Burning Legion, or stay here and meet up with your family in the afterlife."

With a pained grunt Ichigo managed to pull himself back onto his feet, "What kind of damned choice is that? Flee like a coward or suicide? If you could create a portal to your world why didn't you do it earlier or better yet, why didn't you save my friends?"

"My power here is limited," the man's words were punctuated by a loud roar from the pit lord in the distance, "Teleporting myself to your world drained most of my mana and creating this portal took the rest. As much as I would have wanted to help those close to you I could not and I will live with that burden until my soul is finally claimed by the embrace of death."

Ichigo was conflicted on what to do. One part of his mind was advocating taking the portal and living to fight another day. Another, louder, voice was suspicious of the man's intentions.

"Why are you helping me?" the question caught the man off guard and Ichigo pressed his advantage, "There are dozens of people that you could have chosen so why me?"

"I chose you because you're the only one that could."

"What?"

"I cannot say any more. Make your decision Ichigo Kurosaki."

"What choice do I really have?" Ichigo looked forlornly at what remained of Karakura Town before turning to the portal, "My family would never forgive me for dying a pointless death just to be with them. Dad would kick my ass in the afterlife for even thinking about giving up and dying."

Even though Ichigo couldn't see the man's face he could sense the sad smile on his face, "So you have decided then?"

Ichigo nodded and began walking towards the portal but before he could enter it he felt a hand on his shoulder, "A few words of caution. Once you step through the portal my magic will convert your spiritual body to one of flesh of blood. While most of your powers and abilities will remain at your disposal your new body will have the same limitations as those you meet so be careful and know your limits."

Experimentally pressing a hand against the surface of the portal Ichigo noticed that it felt like water. As he stuck his hand and then his entire arm into the portal he heard the man speak again, "My world is a place full of magic and wonder, both good and bad. What is evil to someone could be considered necessary to another. Do not let your judgment be clouded by millennia old prejudices. All is not as it appears. Look underneath the surface for the answers you may find may be but a masquerade."

Before disappearing completely in the portal Ichigo asked one final question, "Who are you?"

"I am Medivh. I urge you to keep your arrival on Azeroth a secret. There are those that will take advantage of such information."

Medivh watched Ichigo disappear through the swirling magic for a few seconds before walking away, "A hero is not born nor are they manufactured by others. A hero comes about when an ordinary person does the right thing. Ichigo Kurosaki…I may have failed in my duties during my life but perhaps allowing you to arrive on Azeroth will help relieve me of some of my debt."

As Medivh walked away from the portal he began to slowly fade away until there was nothing left. There was no evidence that the once guardian of Azeroth had ever visited Ichigo's world except for the faint traces of arcane magic but that too began to disappear and within minutes nothing remained.


	2. Chapter 2: The Same and the Different

_Well, here is Chapter 2 of **Rise of the True Death God**. I think 'Advent' would have sounded cooler than 'Rise' but oh well. This chapter starts Ichigo's journey across Azeroth towards the path that destiny has laid out for him. __The initial reaction to Chapter 1 has been more than I could have thought. 28 reviews and over 60 Favorites and Alerts all for a single chapter? I don't think any of my other stories garnered that much attention, which means a lot of you are liking this chapter. _

_I also want to thank everyone who gave a review that pointed out errors or lack of quality in Chapter 1. General Zargon has been especially helpful in that regard as well as pointing out inconsistencies in Ichigo's behavior and emotions, errors in Bleach and Warcraft lore, as well as how people would react in various situations. He is now my beta reader so the quality of this story should remain high! You should go and check out his stories sometime._

_As I pointed out in the Author's Note for Chapter 1 I am now the Beta Reader for__ JIMMYJAMSTER728. He may be gone on 'vacation' for the next month or two but he has two good stories, **United against the Legion of Flames** and **Transcendence** out there to read. Take a look when you get a chance, you won't be disappointed._

___Oh, before I forgot. I have decided to refer to Ichigo's sealed (no shikai) zanpakuto as a Zweihander. Look it up and picture that as his zanpakuto_

* * *

...

* * *

**Rise of the True Death God: Chapter 2**

Ichigo leapt out of the portal and quickly sunk to his knees. Slamming his fist on the grass he closes his eyes and clenches his jaw.

_"Yuzu…Karin…"_ he had failed them both. Even after all the demons he had slain it had amounted to nothing. When he had seen the military in the distance when fighting in Karakura Town he had thought there was a glimmer of hope that his family had managed to escape the death and destruction but when that pit lord appeared and destroyed several blocks just by landing he knew it was over yet he still fought on for the small chance he was wrong.

"That guy was right," he admitted despondently to himself. He had wanted to hit Medivh when he suggested abandoning his friends and family to save his own ass but something stayed his hand. At first he thought it was the power he could feel Medivh possess but now that he thought about it without the risk of death surrounding him Ichigo couldn't help but realize it was his own realization of the situation stopping him. Some part of his mind, a part that he would never have admitted or listened to, must have known Medivh was right and convinced the rest of him to agree to leave.

"I couldn't even protect them. My family…friends…they're all gone…"

Letting out one final shout of pain and suffering Ichigo sat with his back against a tree and closed his eyes in sorrow. What was the point, he thought sadly, of coming to another world when everything he knew and loved was dead? Why did Medivh choose him and not somebody else? Many questions plagued Ichigo's depressed mind and yet he could not come up with any answers.

_"This is worse than when mom died."_

To this day the death of his mother, Masaki Kurosaki, continued to weigh heavily on Ichigo's mind despite the fact that it was the hollow Grand Fisher that killed her. Ichigo wished that he could go back and make a different choice. His inability to distinguish between the living and the deceased had forced his mother into sacrificing herself to save him. This time was different though. He had all the power he needed to save those he loved and yet it hadn't been enough.

It seemed like in the end everything he did was never enough.

As the chirping of unfamiliar birds echoed through the forest Ichigo tilted his head up and stared into the clear sky above. The sun on this world was bigger than the one he remembered from Earth and yet it didn't seemed to be any brighter or hotter.

"I guess this is a new world after all," he muttered dejectedly.

Ichigo sat there for what could have been minutes or hours as everything finally caught up to him. He was upset that everything was gone and yet he was furious with himself for not being able to save them despite the power Rukia gave him but most of all he was confused about what made him so special. Rukia had told him his power was nothing compared to the captains and lieutenants of the Soul Society so why had Medivh come to him instead of them. Surely they could have done a much better job with saving the world?

As much as he wanted to just continue sitting there Ichigo knew he had to get up and find out where he was. Pushing his sorrow to the back of his mind for the time being he stood up and took in his surroundings.

The forest he found himself in looked pretty normal to Ichigo at first glance but he could smell something strange in the air. To the south through the trees he could see several thin columns of smoke wafting up into the sky. With his first destination on this world firmly in mind Ichigo began walking towards the smoke, hopeful that it was a sign of civilization and not something else.

After quickening his pace to a light jog Ichigo soon reached what seemed to be the main road through the forest. While it wasn't exactly paved it was better than meandering through the forest hoping he would eventually find his way out. Standing in the middle of the road and glancing both ways Ichigo decided to continue heading towards the source of the smoke. If the worst came to pass and the smoke was nothing more than a forest fire he could always head back the other way.

Several uneventful minutes passed as Ichigo made his way down the road. He couldn't help but notice that despite the size and wear of the road he had yet to see any living creature. Walking around a bend in the road Ichigo got his first glimpse at civilization on Azeroth. Coming to a stop and gazing over the town below, Ichigo's first impression was that it was cozy and welcoming. That was always a good start when one found themselves stranded on an alien planet.

"Halt!"

Ichigo found his path forward blocked by two men wearing suits of plate armor of silver and blue hues with a stylized golden lion emblemized on their chests. Once the guards, who had assumed Ichigo to be a threat, saw how young he was, their dangerous demeanor changed, "Hillsbrad is not a safe place for a young man to be by himself. Where are your parents?"

Ichigo turned his eyes away, "They're dead."

There was a pregnant silence as the two guards looked at each other, "How long ago?"

"It wasn't here," he answered quickly. The fact that he hadn't even had a chance to say goodbye was wearing on his soul, "They died…someplace far away."

To his relief the guards didn't press the issue any further and Ichigo was sure he wouldn't be able to keep it up if they did. Taking one last look at Ichigo's ragged attire the guards moved aside and out of the way. As he went to walk past them Ichigo found an armored arm stopping him, "I recommend you talk to Marshal Redpath in the town hall. He's a good man. With everything that has been going on in Hillsbrad he is the person to talk to about getting to Stormwind."

* * *

...

* * *

"I'm well aware that the murlocs at the Western Strand are starting to become more than a nuisance but you know we can't afford to send the men needed to take care of them," a tired voice explained for what was apparently not the first time, "The moment we move against the murlocs the naga to the east will seize on our vulnerability and that's not even considering what horrors the forsaken might be hiding."

"The blasted beasts have killed five people this month," Lieutenant Farren Orinelle pointed out while jabbing a finger at his commanding officer, "One of them was a child! How many more people must we lose before Stormwind decides to take action?"

Marshal Marcus Redpath groaned and rubbed his tired eyes, "Farren, you know Stormwind can't watch out for everyone. With the king missing and the Defias pressing ever closer towards the kingdom from Westfall we need to be self-reliant."

"That is a valid point," Farren conceded, "But the murlocs are only the immediate problem. The undead at Tarren Mill are a much greater cause for concern. Several scouts have reported shipments of rare and exotic ingredients being shipped to an apothecary in the town. One of them was able to get a good look at one of the ingredients – Blindweed. The closest place where Blindweed can be found is in the Western Plaguelands."

Farren expected Marcus to be shocked by the news but the marshal looked more depressed and anxious than upset, "Perhaps Phin was right after all. What you say is indeed dire news and something we cannot overlook. You and I both know Southshore's position in Hillsbrad is shaky. If the forsaken are planning something we need to find out what it is and quickly. While figuring out what the undead are up to is important we cannot forget the matter of the murlocs, although they shouldn't be a problem much longer."

"What do you mean?"

"Before the trouble with the gryphons arose I sent a messenger to Stormwind to express the problems we were having. I have met Lord Fordragon a few times in the past. He is a good man and just yesterday I received a letter from him. It was short but he expressed his concern for our troubles and vowed to send a group of adventurers to take care of the murlocs within the next few days."

"A few days is a long time sir," Farren wasn't one to complain. The Stormwind nobility was notorious for stalling and filibustering. To find the Lord-Reagent of Stormwind willing to go above the nobility to help a small town like Southshore was surprising.

Marcus nodded in agreement, "That it is. Therefore I am enforcing the following rules until the adventurers arrive. No one is to approach the docks or the water's edge alone or without a weapon. There will also be a curfew in place from dusk to dawn for the townsfolk. That should be sufficient to prevent any more deaths. Now Farren, is there anything else you want to discuss?"

The lieutenant nodded, "Yes sir. There is one-"

Farren was cut off as the sound of a creaky floorboard echoed through the town hall. If it was another guard that decided to interrupt him debriefing with a frivolous request he would make sure they were on body disposal duty for a month. Without turning around he expressed his annoyance, "You better have a damn good reason for disregarding my direct orders soldier."

"I'm not one of your soldiers," a young and unfamiliar voice answered, "But if it makes you feel better the guy out front tried to stop me."

Marcus and Farren turned towards the source of the voice, their hands quickly coming to rest on their swords. One might think they were overreacting but it wouldn't be the first time the forsaken or another group tried to send in an assassin to kill them. After the Syndicate had the previous magistrate murdered they weren't going to take chances.

"Who are you?" Marcus ordered the stranger to answer. So far he hadn't made a move to attack them but that didn't mean his reasons here was altruistic.

"The name's Ichigo," Ichigo answered and, as a sign of good faith, drew his zanpakuto and leaned it against the nearby wall, "I was told you could help me with something."

Marcus analyzed the situation before him. He didn't know who Ichigo was or why he was here but an assassin would not voluntarily give up their weapon. A quick glance made him quite sure the boy didn't know how to us magic, His body was much too developed and toned to have spent hours studying complex spells and runes. Coming to a decision he turned and addressed Farren, "Leave us."

To his credit Farren looked shocked at his superior's order, "But sir!"

"That is enough Lieutenant Orinelle," Marcus gave Farren a look that brokered no argument, "Ichigo here has disarmed himself of his weapon of his own volition. I'd like to think I could defend myself if he becomes a threat."

Farren seemed about to disregard the order but he quickly thought otherwise. Snapping off a quick salute he stormed out of the hall but not before making sure to bump shoulders with the substitute shinigami on the way.

Once Farren was gone Marcus turned to Ichigo, "So, Ichigo was it? Why do you want to see me?

Ichigo noticed Marcus's hand stray towards the sword at his side. It seemed the marshal still didn't trust him despite giving up his zanpakuto, "I was told you are the one to talk to about getting to Stormwind. Your guards weren't exactly keen on letting me just walk there."

"Indeed," Marcus let his guard down slightly. If Ichigo was truly an assassin hired by a third party he would easily see the marshal's relaxing as a sign to strike but still nothing happened. It was getting more and more likely that Ichigo wasn't here to kill him. While that was a relief a more pressing matter was how and why Ichigo arrived in Southshore. The town wasn't exactly in the middle of Alliance territory, "You don't look like you even hit adulthood yet. Where are your parents?"

Ichigo looked uncomfortable as he answered, "Dead."

The blunt answer stopped Marcus's train of thought. It didn't take a genius to realize Ichigo's parents didn't die naturally, "I see. How did they die?"

Ichigo shook his head, "I'd rather not talk about it."

Marcus could understand fully why Ichigo was hesitating in talking about the circumstances leading to his family's unfortunate passing. He himself had lost most of his family when Arthas had razed Stratholme to the ground, "I think it is safe to assume you are not here to kill me."

"Kill you?"

"You would not be the first human the forsaken or the Horde had managed to hire to assassinate me," Marcus said without preamble. Despite talking about attempts on his life he sounded as if he was discussing the weather, "Assassination attempts by traitors aside getting to Stormwind might pose a bit of a problem."

"A problem?" Marcus motioned with his hand for Ichigo to sit down.

"How did you come to Southshore Ichigo? Your clothing resembles a mage's robe and yet you carry a zweihander, a weapon no magic user would be caught using."

Ichigo fidgeted nervously. Medivh had asked him not to divulge how he came to Azeroth but he needed to tell Marcus something, "There was a portal…"

"A portal accident was it?" Marcus finished and, to Ichigo's surprise, seemed to be completely fine with it; "I take it this was your first experience with a portal that didn't take you where you wanted to go? I swear to the Light that they don't make mages like they used to. Ever since Dalaran fell during the war…."

"It's not like I wanted to come here," Ichigo argued.

"I figured as much," Marcus answered and directed Ichigo's attention to a map hanging on a nearby wall. Ichigo noticed that the map labeled 'Hillsbrad Foothills' and was covered in various marked figures and locations, "Getting you to Stormwind is going to require some work. At any other time you could just ride one of Darla's gryphons but the forsaken up at Tarren Mill have been up to something. They've been feeding their vampire bats something…unholy. Usually Darla's gryphons can take on three bats in a fight and win but whatever the forsaken did to their bats has locked down all Alliance travel between here and the Arathi Highlands. It's gotten to the point where we've had to start rationing food and water. "

"What about the water?"

"Only a fool would think of anchoring here," Marcus shook his head, "Not too long ago that ships used to sail across Baradin Bay but murloc and naga attacks have caused all but the most foolish of captains to stay far away from here."

_"This town's in a lot of trouble,"_ Ichigo thought with a frown. From just a quick first impression it seemed like Southshore was stuck in the middle of a warzone with little to no help or relief from the people in charge. With both travel by gryphon, as weird and fantastical as it sounded, and boat that only left traveling by land, which was what he wanted to do in the first place. The problem was that he had no damn idea where Stormwind was or how far away it was. It could be across the ocean for all he knew.

"So I guess I have to walk to Stormwind after all. Give me a map or directions and I'll be on my way."

Marcus took in Ichigo's appearance and scoffed, "You may be skilled but you wouldn't make it to Stromgarde without armor. The Syndicate and ogres spread across the Arathi Highlands would make quick work of you."

Ichigo wasn't going to just be insulted, "I think I could manage just fine."

"Oh really?" Marcus asked condescendingly, "Can you dodge arrows fired at your back from a hidden Syndicate rogue? Can your sword cut apart spells cast by an ogre mage? I have seen promising men and women cut down because they were too cocky."

Ichigo tried to come up with something to say but failed. Marcus noticed his silence and nodded, "I see you're headstrong, not stupid. The way you carry that sword on your back suggests you have ample experience wielding it. If I'm not mistaken it looks similar to a zweihander. It must have been a bother learning to swing it without overextending your center of balance."

"Yeah," Ichigo shrugged. Rukia's remedial lessons in swinging a zanpakuto had paid off in the end, "I had a good teacher."

Marcus looked pensive as an idea sprang to mind. After contemplating it for a moment he turned and looked squarely into Ichigo's eyes, "I don't know why you are here and I don't want to know. That is strictly your personal business but I will not let you walk to your death. If you are so adamant on reaching Stormwind through the Arathi Highlands then go and see Robert Aebischer, Southshore's resident blacksmith. You'll find his stable near the entrance to town. If you tell him that I personally sent you he should be able to forge you a reliable set of armor. Now if you excuse me I have important business to get back to."

"Thanks," Ichigo said halfheartedly as he went to leave the hall. Finding out that he needed a set of armor to survive on this world was both annoying and frustrating to Ichigo. He had spend weeks fighting hollows who could tear concrete and steel with their claws and teeth in nothing but a shihakusho without a problem.

_"Great,"_ Ichigo rubbed a hand over his face, _"I might as well get this over with."_

Finding the blacksmith was easier than Ichigo thought it would be. Walking up to the entrance he knocked several times but found the noise emanating from inside to be too loud. Sweating slightly from the heat radiating outwards he stepped inside and said, "Hello?"

"Hold on…just one second…I'll be right with you…"

Each gap between words was punctuated by the sound of a hammer striking against red-hot metal. While waiting for the blacksmith at the entrance to the sweltering stable Ichigo glanced around and noticed several breastplates, greaves, and other pieces of steel armor that looked to be very high quality. He may not want to wear armor but he had to admit this blacksmith does a hell of a job. When Ichigo heard the sound of water hissing as a piece of metal was dipped into it he turned and saw a large man covered in soot and ash walk around a corner and into view.

"Sorry for making you wait. Marshal Redpath asked me to refit several of his men's armor," Robert Aebischer laughed before getting a good look at Ichigo, "I haven't seen you around Southshore before. The name's Robert Aebischer, self-proclaimed best blacksmith this side of the Wetlands. What can I do for you today?"

"The name's Ichigo. Marcus sent me here for some armor."

"Ichigo? Peculiar name if I ever heard one. You said Marcus sent you?" Robert folded his massive arms across his chest and looked at Ichigo's tattered shihakusho before laughing, "I can see why Marcus would send you to me. You have the body and posture of a warrior and yet you're dressed up like a girly mage! Wait a second…" Robert Aebischer trailed off as he noticed the blade on Ichigo's back, "That zweihander you carry is not an easy weapon to master. Most novices to the art of the blade would choose a shortsword for ease of use but the way you carry your weapon suggests you have spent hours practicing wielding it. It's truly remarkable for someone of your age to be so proficient."

"Thanks," Ichigo shrugged nonchalantly, "What about the armor?"

"If Marcus said you needed a set of armor then who am I to argue? I can easily create some of the best armor you'll ever wear but it's going to take some time to make," Robert wiped some soot off his forehead, "I'm not made of magic. I can't just instantly forge you a set of armor. It takes time, effort, patience and, most importantly, gold. I can tell you now that a full set of plate armor isn't going to come cheap."

_"They actually use gold in this place?"_ Ichigo groaned. Why did he think something like this would come free of charge? Calming down he asked, "Just how much gold is this going to cost me?"

"That all depends," the blacksmith wiped his dirty hands on his apron, "It's either approximately 50 gold to cover the cost of materials and labor as well as the fitting or…"

Ichigo narrowed his eyes, "Or?"

Robert hummed to himself, "There is something you can do that might be able to pay for the armor. There is a man by the name of Phin Odelic, a former member of the Kirin Tor, here in Southshore. Since about a week ago he has been talking nonstop about how the forsaken in Tarren Mill were up to something and asked for volunteers to help him prove it. Needless to say no one offered their assistance."

Ichigo could see where this was going, "And you want me to help him?"

"Phin is not a man to just sprout off rumors like this," Robert looked over Ichigo's shoulder and out the shop, "Go to Phin and help him with whatever he needs. Do that and I'll craft you a set of armor free of charge."

Ichigo glanced down at his missing sleeve. Armor might be better than walking around with half of his shihakusho missing, "Fine. Where can I find this guy?"

"You can find Phin across town near the docks. He's the mage in the grey robe and hate so he shouldn't be too hard to spot. Even with the threat from murlocs and naga he is too stubborn to stop his research. Tell him Marcus sent you and he should be more than willing to let you help him."

With the conversation over Robert Aebischer turned and headed back to what he was working on but Ichigo continued standing in the entrance to the stable. He was starting to get annoyed with this place. All he wanted was to find a way to Stormwind and yet he had to first help several people before he could even think about leaving. As he headed towards the dock without saying another word he hoped he wouldn't have to do anything else.

* * *

...

* * *

Contrary to what he expected Ichigo had no trouble finding Phin Odelic. The mage's attire stuck out like a sore thumb in a small town like Southshore where most people were farmers and traders. The problem, Ichigo quickly realized, was actually trying to get the man to talk to him.

"Are you Phin Odelic?"

"Go away," The former member of the now-defunct Kirin Tor was busy leafing through the pages of an open book while occasionally sending glances at several alchemical beakers sitting on a table, "I'm rather busy right now so please leave me alone. Now where was I? If I crush the Purple Lotus instead of mashing it into a paste the radius of detection increases twofold. The only question is why. Perhaps it has to do with the chemical reactions between…"

Ichigo didn't know how long the man would ignore him so he decided to just get it over with, "Marcus sent me to help you with your problem."

At the mention of the marshal's name Phin stopped what he was doing and turned to Ichigo, "Marcus sent you?"

"Yeah."

The mage glanced over Ichigo's attire before scoffing, "I would have though Marcus would take my request seriously. The undead are getting stronger and more cunning by the day while he just sits and twiddles his thumbs. It's only a matter of time before the forsaken decide to just wipe Southshore off the face of Azeroth."

"Look," Ichigo was getting annoying. He wanted to just turn around and leave but helping Phin with his problem was perhaps the only way he could leave Southshore and not be killed. Medivh had said his body was basically human now. That meant he couldn't rely on an increased pain tolerance and toughness anymore, "Marcus said you had a problem and were looking for help. Obviously you didn't get any since you're still here. You can either have me help you or go back to doing whatever the hell you were doing just a moment ago."

Phin stared at Ichigo before adjusting his mage hat, "Very well then. You do seem to be quite capable with a weapon despite your age and attire so who am I to judge? Follow me."

When the mage turned and walked towards the empty shore Ichigo glanced around before following him. Due to the murloc attacks the entire area was clear of potential eavesdroppers, which made it perfect to hold a private conversation.

"I wouldn't worry too much about the murlocs," Phin commented offhand and motioned to several charred corpses of the fish-like monsters, "After burning several of them to a crisp with but a snap of my fingers they tend to stay far away whenever I approach the water. Now then, since Marcus vouched for you I think you need to know something. I'm not just a simple alchemist and mage. I'm also the leader of a small group of adventurers that investigates odd and mysterious happenings from the western shores of Silverpine Forest to the Arathi Highlands."

Gazing south over Baradin Bay towards the mountains barely visible on the horizon Phin coughed and cleared his throat, "A couple of weeks ago my cousin was forced to put down his dog, Stanley, after he grew to an enormous size and began attacking everyone around him. I believe the forsaken in Tarren Mill are to blame for this and I have spent much of the past week looking for proof to show the alliance."

The fact that there were living dead on this world did not surprise Ichigo as much as he thought it would. Perhaps it had to do with all the zombie movies he watched or the fact that he had fought living, breathing demons earlier that day. Hardly blinking an eye he asked, "How can you be sure?"

"A dog doesn't grow to five times its normal size and develop green, pus-filled blisters on its back from eating bad meat," Phin admonished, "The fact of the matter is I think I have the necessary proof. Last week two of my companions, Quae and Kinelory, discovered the source of the forsaken's plague research in the Arathi Highlands. A forsaken apothecary by the name of Jorell was working to develop a new, more insidious plague and we believe he is very close to finishing it. Stanley was unfortunate enough to be a test subject for the undead bastard."

Something about this was bothering Ichigo. He might not be as smart as Uryu was but even he knew developing anything involving a plague was bad news, "It seems like you already have the proof you need. Why not just capture this Jorell guy?"

"Because someone tipped him off!" Phin rubbed his face in an attempt to keep himself from yelling. He was actually quite furious with how Jorell managed to escape from right under their noses. Quae and Kinelory should have been able to easily capture him and yet when they reached his lab at the Go'Shek Farm in the highlands he was long gone, "That doesn't matter. Kinelory found that before he left to go into hiding Jorell gave a copy of all his notes and research on the new plague to a forsaken courier to be delivered to another apothecary in Tarren Mill."

"So what? You want me to steal the notes or something?"

Phin nodded, "Exactly. If we can intercept the courier and steal Jorell's notes I can begin to figure out what the forsaken are planning with their modified plague."

"So why all this secrecy?" Ichigo curiously asked, "If this plague stuff is as dangerous as you say it is why not tell Marcus or another one of the soldiers?"

"You must have hit your head or something," Phin scoffed and spit on the ground, "Southshore is the most northern held town of the Alliance. While some would say Hillsbrad Fields I would have to disagree. They are just one Horde assault away from falling. If even one word about the nature of my work gets out I'm a dead man. The forsaken have eyes and ears all throughout Hillsbrad."

"Fine. Where do I find this courier?"

Phin shoved a rolled up parchment into Ichigo's hands. Opening it, he saw it was a map of Hillsbrad and the surrounding areas, "The forsaken control an old Alliance tower on the road just north of Southshore. This tower lies on the crossroads between the main road from Silverpine and the path to Tarren Mill. The courier will be forced to stop before he can continue on to Tarren Mill. Find a place to hide until the courier arrives. Once you see the black and blood-red sash wrapped around his waist kill him and retrieve the notes."

"Kill huh?" Ichigo frowned. Killing demons was one thing but he had no compulsion to kill a forsaken, even if they were already technically dead.

"Yes. The forsaken are already dead and showing mercy on them would only make you look weak while leaving you open to being stabbed in the back. You cannot know the atrocities they have committed against the people of Hillsbrad in the years since the Third War. They have kidnapped, tortured, and experimented on innocent men, women and children all for the sake of their perverted pleasure!"

Ichigo still didn't want to kill anyone but if what Phin Odelic said is true then he really didn't have much of a choice. Still though, that didn't mean he was just going to kill someone, "As long as I get those notes for you why do you care if I kill?"

"Because…" Phin's voice darkened as he stared out over the water, "…if you leave the courier alive he will no doubt reach Tarren Mill where he will inform the forsaken about what happened. The deathguard, the forsaken military, will then send a message to the Undercity about what happened. You will be on their most wanted list by the end of the day. So it is not a matter of taking pleasure in killing the courier but actually one of keeping yourself alive and well. Now go. If you follow the road north from town you can reach the crossing in about twenty minutes."

With nothing more to be said Phin headed back to his alchemic work, leaving Ichigo alone at the water's edge. The substitute shinigami stood there for a minute, his mind in turmoil about what he would do, before turning around and heading towards the entrance to Southshore.

* * *

...

* * *

Evenings in Hillsbrad Foothills were always accompanied by a silence that would unnerve those new to the area. While in the past the sounds of insects and birds would go hand-in-hand with the setting sun every since the Plague of Undeath hit the kingdom of Lordaeron and the undead spread south through the mountains the wildlife has wisely decided to stay hidden. Whether it was due to some primal instinct that animals had about the undead forsaken or a simple survival instinct the fact of the matter was that the pine forests throughout Hillsbrad were empty of all life.

_"It's been nearly two hours," _Ichigo thought with annoyance as watched the sun set to the west. While he was slightly impressed by the duel moons rising in the evening sky he was more concerned with the appearance, or lack thereof, of the courier. The mage had been quite certain the courier would be coming along within the hour and yet there had been no sign of any undead on the road. That doesn't mean he didn't see anyone. From the branch he was standing on, which gave him a perfect view of the crossroad and the tower, he had seen several other people that weren't human.

_"So Medivh was right after all."_

Ichigo crouched down to relieve some of the soreness in his legs. The sun was nearly over the mountains and he still had seen no sign of the courier. Either the forsaken was never coming or, worse, he had missed him and the information on the plague had reached Tarren Mill. Ichigo may have only been on Azeroth for less than a day but he had read enough about his own world's history to know that something that deadly and powerful is not being created just for research. If Phin was right about the undead then it's just a matter of time before they felt the need to use it.

A flurry of activity in the corner of his eye caught Ichigo's attention. Realizing it was coming from the ruined tower, and now forsaken outpost, he carefully hid behind the tree and peered out over the side. If the forsaken truly had supernatural senses then there was a high chance they could see him even in this little light.

_"What's going on?"_

He saw the two undead who had been patrolling the outpost, deathguards he reminded himself, point to something in the distance. One of them left the safety of the tower and walked out onto the road. A minute later he was approached by a second forsaken who stopped and started talking to the deathguard. From his vantage point Ichigo tried to make out what the newcomer was wearing but the dim lighting made it very difficult. It was only after he risked jumping to a tree closer to the outpost that he was able to make out a swirl of red and black around the new forsaken's waist.

_"That must be the courier,"_ he thought with a small amount of satisfaction. Still, that did not mean this courier was the one he was looking for. He had to make sure. Pressing his ear against the side of the tree he was just able to make out what was being said.

Their voices, he noted, sounded rough and guttural.

"Who are you and for what purpose do you seek to approach Tarren Mill?" the deathguard asked the courier with a guttural tone, his glowing yellow eyes seeming to pierce through his fellow undead.

"Enough with the theatrics already Marco," the courier growled right back, "You know damn well who I am and why I've come here. I have a package from the Arathi Highlands."

"It's all standard procedure," Marco Ghoulstomper chuckled. He had known the courier for several months even if he had never told Marco his name. It came with being a courier. All couriers were required to never reveal their names under any circumstances but that didn't mean Marco couldn't squeeze out a little amusement. Guarding this outpost was very dull and boring, especially when his fellow deathguard came out of the grave with more than a few screws missing.

With a wave of his skeletal hand he asked, "Just one more question and you can go. I need to know who the sender of your delivery is and who it is going to."

"It's from Apothecary Jorell to Apothecary Lydon in Tarren Mill. Now if you are done with these inane questions I would like to get to Tarren Mill. I've been on my feet all day and if I wasn't already dead they would have fallen off by now."

_"So this is the guy,"_ Ichigo's eyes narrowed as the conversation between the deathguard and courier began to trail off. He could always just charge in and kill them to retrieve what Phin wanted but Ichigo would never commit cold-blooded murder, even if his targets were already dead. That was a bridge he would never cross as long as he was able to draw breath.

"Let's think…" Ichigo looked at the three undead gathered at the outpost. The courier didn't seem like he had any real training and could be easily taken out of the fight. The problem was going to be with the deathguards. He didn't know what skills they had or what special powers being undead awarded them. He would need to play his cards carefully. He needed to come up with a plan that would allow him to see just how skilled they were without putting himself in danger.

Ichigo closed his eyes for a minute before bending his knees and jumping off the branch towards the outpost.

While Ichigo was thinking of his plan Marco was nearly finished with his questions. He loved this part of the job because if anyone got angry or upset with him he could prevent them from reaching Tarren Mill by any means necessary. The problem was that most visitors to Tarren Mill were adventurers and bypassed the hassle of going through the outpost by cutting right through the forest to the town.

"Heh, I guess you check out. Everything seems to be in order here. Dark Lady watch over you."

The courier nodded and headed up the road to Tarren Mill. He had been having a terrible day. First Jorell pops out of nowhere all in a panic and gives him a job when the damned apothecary knew it wasn't his shift. If that wasn't bad enough he was chased halfway across the highlands by a group of Alliance for no apparent reason. After managing to evade them by hiding behind a boulder he reached Thoradin's Wall only to find it under attack by the Syndicate, forcing him to wait several more hours while his Horde allies massacred the pathetic humans. It eluded his rotten brain why the Dark Lady doesn't just raze the humans to extinction. Hopefully whatever Jorell had been working on would help move that along.

"I would stop right there if I were you."

The courier turned around and looked for the source of the voice. He could tell it was a human. A young one at that, "Damn Alliance dogs."

"Stay back," Marco stepped in front of the courier and rested his hand on his sword. If a human was here there was a high chance the Alliance were privy to what the courier was transporting to Tarren Mill. If that was true then it was important the courier reach Tarren Mill safely, "This could be a trap to lure you away. There could be others ready to ambush you if you try to leave."

"You seem nervous," the human's voice said. Surprisingly it didn't have the typical Alliance arrogance in it, "Up here."

The forsaken shifted their gazes from looking around the surrounding forest to the ruined tower. Standing on the low and partially destroyed granite wall surrounding the tower was a male human. It was readily apparent why they had not seen the human earlier. The black robe he wore that covered him from head to toe had blended in with the twilight permeating the forest. It was disconcerting to think that if the human hadn't spoken up he could have continued to stand there without being noticed.

"Ha ha ha. This is great. A little boy is lost in the woods. Didn't your parents teach you to be afraid of the dark? Monsters do exist you know," the second deathguard chuckled through a partially decayed and missing throat. Ever since he had been raised into undeath when Lordearon fell he had craved death and bloodshed. When the Dark Lady freed his mind from the shackles of the Lich King he thought he would be able to go after the living all he wanted. Instead he was cursed to guard this outpost alongside a weakling who prevented him from going after the humans just down the road!

Without any effort Ichigo jumped off the wall and landed nimbly on the grass, "If I see a monster I'll let you know."

"You must have lost your mind coming here human," the deathguard growled and drew his sword. This human thought he could just come here and say things like that and not expect to be punished? His brain must be more rattled than his own.

"I'm going to cut you slowly," to emphasize this the deathguard slowly sliced the remaining flesh on his arm. It didn't hurt him and bleed but it also worked to demoralize and strike fear into his opponents, "But I won't kill you. No…I'm going to leave you on the verge of death and then drag your body to Tarren Mill. Lydon has been looking for test subjects. He will have so much fun with you…"

Ichigo narrowed his eyes and gripped his zanpakuto. He had thought that one hollow was deranged but this forsaken simply radiated madness, "You're insane."

"Frederick…" Marco felt something off about the human in front of him. Sure he wore a simple black robe and had a greatsword but there was something else he couldn't place. The human was dangerous but Marco didn't know how much.

"Shut your damn mouth you pathetic excuse for an undead!" Frederick seethed, his yellow glowing eyes radiating insanity. Pointing his sword at his fellow deathguard he shouted, "For months I have had to put up with you holding me back from attacking the weak and pathetic humans throughout this place but no longer. I am going to have fun with this human and there is nothing you can do to stop me!"

As Frederick continued to rant Ichigo found it was getting harder and harder to not kill the forsaken. Every word that came out of his undead mouth literally oozed with hatred and murderous intent. Ichigo was sure that, given the chance, the deathguard would slaughter every man, woman and child that he came upon.

"Fun you say?" Ichigo unsheathed his zanpakuto, the blade nearly the same length of his body. Resting the zweihander on his shoulder he frowned, "This doesn't sound so fun. Perhaps if someone more competent was on duty I could have fun."

"You fucking bastard!" Frederick couldn't believe the human was mocking him. Him! The human should be cowering on the ground hoping he wouldn't kill him. He was going to kill the human. He was going to slice the human apart in such a way that he did not die for a very, very long time, "I'm going to make you regret each and every one of you words by cutting off your limbs starting with your hands!"

When the deathguard charged at him with his sword drawn and maniac look in his eyes Ichigo took a moment to ascertain his abilities. The forsaken was definitely faster than most people back on his world although not by much. He was certain he could outrun the forsaken in his human body without much trouble. The problem he would have fighting him was stamina. Ichigo wasn't positive about it but he was confident that the undead didn't have a problem with stamina due to being undead. If that was true then the deathguard could simply continue fighting until Ichigo became exhausted. That shouldn't be a problem though because while Ichigo had no idea of Frederick's actual strength he could read him like a book.

"I believe you missed," Ichigo leaned to the side as Frederick swung down with his sword in an attempt to sever his left arm. While he still did not want to kill the undead it was becoming more and more clear that if he didn't do something Frederick would continue to come after him. He would need to do what he did before receiving Rukia's shinigami powers.

Beat the crap out of him until the deathguard couldn't take it anymore.

"Damn! Damn! Damn!"

Frederick's already addled mind shattered as Ichigo continued effortlessly dodging his attacks. He was a forsaken! An evolution upon humanity! How could he be losing to a mere human? Rage fueling his movements he raced at Ichigo, his sword aimed directly at the center of his chest while his eyes waited for Ichigo to begin moving to avoid his blade. He wouldn't allow himself to miss one more time!

Ichigo watched Frederick charge at him without any semblance of a plan or strategy. It appeared this was going to be easier than he thought. Waiting until the tip of the sword was only inches from his chest he twisted to the side and grabbed onto the forsaken's wrist.

Ichigo watched as Frederick charged at him without any form of a plan or style. It appeared that his rage the undead had foregone any conscious thought and was focused solely on killing him. That worked to Ichigo's advantage. The substitute shinigami dodged several of the deathguard's strikes and waited until Frederick was close enough before twisting his body to the side and grabbed the forsaken's wrist.

"I've had enough of this," Ichigo growled. Planting his zanpakuto into the ground he reared his leg back before smashing his knee into Frederick's stomach.

"Gah!"

Frederick collapsed to the ground as a pain he hadn't felt in a long time radiated outwards from where Ichigo had hit him. How could he be feeling pain? His body was dead and all his nerves were gone so how had this human caused him to feel something he hadn't felt in years?

"Damn you!" he spat at Ichigo while shakily getting back to his feet, "Causing me to feel pain…I'm going to make your suffering legendary!"

Away from the battle Marco frowned when Frederick spoke. It was impossible for an undead, forsaken or Scourge, to feel any sort of pain. They could only be temporarily inconvenienced by being knocked out or having their limbs removed. Marco had lost one of his legs during a skirmish against some ogres a few weeks ago and while it didn't hurt it was a pain in the ass until it was stitched back on. The feeling he had felt when he had first seen Ichigo had doubled in intensity. Something was seriously off about that human.

"You can still speak?" Ichigo stared at Frederick in mild surprise. He was sure that blow would have either knocked the forsaken unconscious, if that were even possible, or prevent him from moving. Perhaps the deathguard was tougher than Ichigo gave him credit for, "It doesn't matter if you can move or not. You're not a threat to me so stay down there and out of the way and you won't need to die."

As Ichigo stepped around the deathguard towards the courier and his goal he heard Frederick get to his feet behind him. Turning his head around he said, "Can't you take the hint? I don't want to fight you anymore. I don't want to kill you but if you continue fighting I won't have a choice."

"I don't care!" Frederick shouted manically. This human had made him feel pain and now was saying he wasn't going to fight? That was insulting, "You don't want to kill me? Ha! You either strike me down or I'll just keep coming after you and everyone you love or care about. I won't stop until everything you cherish is dead. Now fight me!"

Frederick charged at Ichigo with his sword held loosely in his hand. With a resigned sigh Ichigo raised his zanpakuto and waited for the forsaken to get closer. If the deathguard wanted a fight to the death then he would give him one despite how strongly he felt on the matter. Frederick was much too dangerous and unstable to be left alive to take vengeance.

What happened next occurred so quickly that Marco had barely glimpsed half of it while the courier had missed it entirely. Marco had seen Frederick charge towards Ichigo with his blade singing through the air only for Ichigo to parry the attack away with the side of his zweihander. Then, without showing any signs of a struggle or exhaustion, Ichigo forced Frederick to overextend himself before shearing straight through the deathguard's left side of his chest with his zanpakuto.

"What?" Frederick stumbled back and held a hand over his wound. This shouldn't hurt or affect him and yet it felt as if he had been given a mortal wound, "What did you do to me?"

"Calm down," Ichigo answered uncaringly. He had gotten much worse injuries from hollows than a simple stab through the side of his chest, "You're already dead and I made sure to not aim for anything vital. I'm sure you'll be fine but I warn you. If you ever come after me again I won't hesitate to kill you."

Frederick coughed, a notable act in and of itself, and collapsed to the ground, "This…is…impossible…"

"Hey!" Ichigo stepped towards the fallen deathguard. His attack shouldn't have been anything close to fatal, "Are you alright?"

"Go…to hell…you damn human…" Frederick grumbled as the light dimmed from his eyes, "The light…so beautiful…"

Marco was now in a full-blown panic. He could not believe what he had just seen. The human had gotten Frederick with nothing more than a glancing blow and yet it was enough to permanently kill his fellow undead if his last words were anything to go by. This whole situation had developed into a total hellhole.

"Run to Tarren Mill," he ordered the courier, "I don't know how long I can hold him off but you need to get there and warn them. I'll try to buy you as much time as possible!"

Despite the hit his pride would take the courier nodded. His basic training, which he only took so that he could survive on the roads as a courier, would amount to nothing in the face of such an opponent. How could he be expected to fight someone that could kill, actually _kill_, a forsaken with only a shallow cut?

"Listen," Ichigo's stoic voice cut through the darkness, "All I came here for was what he's carrying. No one else needs to die."

Marco growled and took a step back before charging at Ichigo. If he had any chance of surviving this fight he needed to keep his head clear. Frederick's lose came more from his insanity than his speed and power. Marco was both faster and stronger than his fellow deathguard so he could be able to fight the human at a more even level. He just needed to watch out for that sword. One cut and it is all over.

With a grunt Ichigo ran forward and used his zanpakuto to parry Marco's sword in a shower of sparks. Marco stumbled back due to the power in Ichigo's swing. The power the human was wielding should be impossible to possess and yet he was experiencing it first hand. Recovering quicker than Ichigo anticipated, Marco ducked down before stabbing upwards towards the base of Ichigo's neck. Ichigo saw the attack coming and leaned back, allowing the sword to pass harmlessly inches from his face but that had been Marco's plan all along. Quickly changing the momentum of his arm Marco twisted around Ichigo's guard and slammed the hilt of his blade against Ichigo's forehead.

"I have to admit," Ichigo said without any hint of pain in his voice. Pressing a finger against his temple he wasn't surprised to see a smudge of blood on it, "That actually stung a little."

Ichigo tilted his head and showed that there was only a small cut on his forehead from the attack, "But if that is the best you can do I'm afraid this isn't going to be much of a fight. I'm asking you one final time to give up and let me take what the courier has. You don't need to die for this."

Marco growled but he was surprised by the honor Ichigo was showing him. Most humans that he had encountered and fought saw him as an abomination upon Azeroth and tried to cut him down, "You have enough strength and power to cut me down where I stand at any time yet you refuse to. What is your name?"

Wiping the last trace of blood off his face Ichigo replied, "The name's Ichigo."

"Marco Ghoulstomper."

Marco was no fool. Others may think him to be weak and a coward but he knew when the cards were stacked against him. There was no way he could fight Ichigo and expect to win or even wound him. He had hit Ichigo's forehead with enough force to knock out a man but the human had shrugged it off like he was a fly.

"There is no way that I can win," Marco sheathed his sword, "If I were to fight you I would lose and then you would go after the courier. My death would be pointless. If we give you the package will you let us go?"

Ichigo sheathed his zanpakuto on his back but didn't remove his hand from the hilt, "I didn't want to kill any of you in the first place."

Marco nodded before turning to the courier, "Give it to him."

The courier looked at Marco with fear, "But Darthalia-"

"I will deal with the High Executor," Marco growled, "Give him the package or he will kill us both."

Nodding frantically the courier fumbled with the latch holding his bag to his waist and threw it at Ichigo, who deftly caught it without so much as blinking. Turning around to leave Ichigo had only taken a few steps when Marco spoke.

"Do you think you will be able to leave here?"

Ichigo stopped walking but didn't turn around or speak as Marco continued, "The Dark Lady will hunt you down, you know. There is no place that you will be able to hide from her infinite and dark gaze. You are a dead man."

"Death doesn't scare me," Ichigo replied and disappeared into the darkness that was the Hillsbrad Foothills.

* * *

...

* * *

Ichigo's return to Southshore was thankfully uneventful and quiet. The streets were bare and deserted, no doubt because of Marcus's curfew, and he could find no trace of Phin Odelic or his table of alchemist books and ingredients. As he walked down the street he noticed the inn was brightly lit with sounds of laughter and shouts emanating from the structure. With no better options available he entered the inn and, to his eternally screwed up luck, saw the mage sitting at a table near the window. Noticing Ichigo, Phin waved him over.

"So…" Phin sipped his ale and grimaced at the taste, "You actually managed to make it back in one piece."

Ichigo frowned and sat down across from the mage, "You sound upset. Did you expect for me to die?"

'No," Phin rubbed his face and yawned, "I just expected you to have at least some injuries. The guards at the outpost weren't exactly weak. In any case, did you manage to get it?"

"Yeah," Ichigo mumbled and tossed the parcel across the table. The mage discretely grabbed it and began rifling through the papers and books.

"Good work," Phin closed the parcel, "Hopefully with this information the Alliance can curtail any developments the forsaken may have made on a new plague and perhaps even develop a cure. You did some fine work."

"I don't know," Ichigo frowned and leaned back in his seat, "Something one of the deathguards said bothers me. He said someone called the 'Dark Lady' would be coming after me."

Phin choked on his ale as soon as Ichigo had said the name, his face turning a shade of white, "Did you say the Dark Lady? That is terrible news. Sylvanas is anything but merciful to her enemies."

"That sounds bad," Ichigo didn't know who this Sylvanas was but if both the forsaken and Phin were afraid of her then she was nothing but bad news, "Are you suggesting I get out of Southshore?"

"Yes…but not right now," Phin quickly added, "Sylvanas likes to leave the conquest of Hillsbrad to one of her High Executors. From what little information we have been able to gather on the forsaken structure, it will take at least seven hours for a message to reach the Undercity about you. Then another hour or two for the message to reach the Dark Lady and seven more for her response to return to Tarren Mill. So at the very earliest you can expect a response from the forsaken by tomorrow afternoon."

"That doesn't leave much time," Ichigo frowned and looked out a nearby window. The inn happened to be built so that half of the windows overlooked Baradin Bay. Ichigo stared at the still water reflecting the twin moons before turning back to Phin, "I still have to pick up my armor from Robert."

"Robert Aebischer? I'm guessing it has to do with your attire…or lack thereof."

Ichigo nodded, "He said if I helped you with your task he would make me some armor."

"Robert does good work. He was the one that told you to come to me, wasn't he?" Phin quipped before remembering something, "Did you know Robert and Marcus are close friends? You wouldn't think it possible but for a while they fought together in the Stormwind Army before Robert decided to become a blacksmith. I'm sure that Marcus sent you to Robert, knowing he would send you to me. Marcus is a smart bastard. All Redpaths are."

"The hour is drawing late. I suggest you get some sleep," Phin stood up and dropped several silver coins on the table, "I've taken the liberty of renting you a room from Anderson. If we are to assume the worst, then the forsaken and their Dark Lady will have word of your deed by sunrise tomorrow. If you want any chance of getting out of Hillsbrad alive you need to leave before noon. As for your armor…Robert is a strong and hardworking man. If he said he would have it done for you within a day, then by the Light he will. By the time you awaken tomorrow he will have finished. Goodbye."

Ichigo watched Phin leave the inn before tilting his head up at the inn's ceiling. How bad was his luck that the very first day he arrived on Azeroth he managed to not only fight a group of living dead but also piss off their very powerful and extremely dangerous leader? Somewhere in the afterlife a certain spectacled quincy was laughing at him.

_"God damn it."_

* * *

...

* * *

High Executor Darthalia was not amused but then again she was never a happy forsaken to begin with.

"Tell me again Deathgaurd Marco," her guttural voice said in what clearly an eastern Lordearon accent, "Why I should not have you beheaded and burned for failing the simple task I assigned you?"

Marco tried to lift his head but found the grip of the two deathguards on either side of him to be too strong. Sitting there on his knees in front of the High Executor he tried to figure out where it all went to hell. He knew Darthalia would be upset at allowing that human to get away with the courier's package. She wasn't exactly known for her mercy and generosity but he never expected her to lose it like this. Now he knew what the members of the Horde who crossed her ire must have felt before dying.

"At the time it looked like a random robbery by the Syndicate," Marco gently protested but that, of course, was a bold-faced lie. Ichigo was much too strong and skilled to be a member of that ragtag group of Alterac humans. He had no idea why Ichigo targeted the courier and he hoped to never find out. There were secrets out there that would lead to his second death if he were to ever find them out. Whatever the courier was carrying must have been extremely dangerous because Darthalia had personally beheaded and burned the unfortunate forsaken for failing her, "The human who ambushed the outpost didn't seem to have any idea what the courier was carrying."

That was another lie but thankfully everyone who could call him out on it was dead.

"You think that?" Darthalia leaned down until she was face to face with the restrained Marco. As much as she wanted to dispose of him he had proven himself a valuable asset to the forsaken. He was one of the lucky forsaken who had returned from the dead free of the Lich King's control and with his full intelligence. It would be detrimental if she were to kill him.

"Consider yourself fortunate that I am in a benevolent mood," Darthalia snapped her fingers and the two deathguards restraining Marco quickly let him go and stepped to the side. Taking amusement from his sorrowful state she continued, "I have already disposed of the courier for failing at his job but that was because he knew too much. I would have killed him soon enough anyway."

Darthalia turned around began heading back into the dilapidated church that was her headquarters in Tarren Mill, "Since you are the one that failed to stop this human it is up to you to inform the Dark Lady in Undercity of your failings."

"The Dark Lady?" if Marco was still alive he would have been sweating in fear.

"Yes," Darthalia drawled out as if it were completely obvious, "Now go. If I turn around and you're still groveling on the floor you will join the courier in the afterlife."

Marco quickly got up and left the old church. He needed to get a mount from Zarise and fly to the Undercity before Darthalia changed her mind about letting him live.

"I don't know why you let that failure leave alive."

Darthalia ignored the urge to turn toward the source of the guttural voice; "The Dark Lady will kill him for his failure so why waste my own time and effort? Now what do you want Lydon?"

Apothecary Lydon, member of the forsaken Royal Apothecary Society, grimaced, his pale and decaying skin pulling taunt over his face, "I recovered Frederick's corpse as you ordered."

"Why are you telling me this?"

Lydon looked away from the High Executor as he spoke, "Because there was a slight problem in the resurrection process."

Darthalia's eyes narrowed in suspicion. Lydon was being evasive in his answers and the last time he had been like this one of his experiments had broken out and killed nine forsaken before being put down, "What do you mean a problem? I swear that if you are conducting experiments without informing me first…"

"No, it was not something that I did," Lydon was used to Darthalia's temper and was unperturbed by her veiled threat. If she tried anything against him he was positive he could escape with minimal injuries. He had enough Swiftness Potions to make it all the way to Silverpine, "Rather it was with the state of Frederick's body. Despite the best efforts of several priests and myself we were unable to resurrect him."

"Impossible," Darthalia snorted and shook her head. Forsaken were unable to be permanently killed unless beheaded and burned alive, like she did with the courier. That Lich King bastard had made sure they suffered for all eternity. If they were slain their souls would remain in their corrupted and undead bodies until brought back to life. She herself had been slain once and it was not an experience she would like to repeat anytime soon.

"Whoever attacked the outpost did something to Frederick that severed the connection between his undead body and corrupted soul. I need not tell you of how many weapons there are that can rend the soul from the body."

Darthalia's eyes widened in shock as an image of Frostmourne entered her mind. She had been a victim of the Plague of Undeath so she had never seen the runeblade in person but the Dark Lady had been adamant in having her people become aware of their most hated enemy.

"I want you to conduct a thorough investigation of Frederick's corpse," she ordered Lydon. The apothecary was surprised at her order. Usually she was the one to reign his experiments in not ask him to expand them, "Your research into the New Plague is halted for the moment. Find out how and why Frederick was killed and what could have severed the connection between his body and soul. If there is someone out there with a sword like Frostmourne then we need to inform the Dark Lady. Now go!"

Lydon bowed and quickly left Darthalia alone to head back to his workshop. While the prospect of another Frostmourne worried him he was too busy being giddy with excitement. The High Executor had given him verbal permission to conduct as many experiments as needed. If that wasn't a license to go all out then he didn't know what was.

Darthalia frowned as much as her undead state allowed her and quickly headed to Zarise. She needed to get to Marco before he took off to the Undercity and was estatic when she saw Marco still getting saddled on a vampire bat. It was at times like this that she was glad Zarise was a careful flight master.

"Do not let him leave just yet."

Marco turned nervously at the voice of the High Executor, "Ma'am?"

As she ordered Zarise to belay Marco's take off her mind tried to picture who the person was that permanently killed Frederick. The lack of reports from other towns and settlements across the Eastern Kingdoms about a man who can sever the soul from the body suggests that either he was extremely smart and cunning, which boded badly for the forsaken, or had just arrived to Hillsbrad. The question that was left unanswered was that where had he been before coming here.

It did not matter for in the end the Dark Lady would make sure this human would die. All those that crossed the Banshee Queen did not live long to tell the tale.

"Deathguard Marco," her guttural voice quickly drew the deathguard's attention. Walking until she was just standing inches from the hovering vampire bat she leaned forward, "I have an additional message for you to bring to the Dark Lady…"


	3. Chapter 3: The City of the Dead

_I present to you, my faithful readers, Chapter 3 of **Rise of the True Death God**. So Ichigo's journey on Azeroth has hit a snag with his first encounter with a race other than humans although, to be honest, the forsaken are 'technically' human corpses but I digress. I am impressed that the number of reviews, favorites, and alerts continues to increase. I'm already at over 50 reviews and 100 alerts/favs for only two chapters, which is remarkable!_

_I will like to once again thank General Zargon for beta reading this chapter. I must have gone through 5 revisions as he kept pointing out grammatical and plot errors. His pointing out of several glaring mistakes and Ichigo OOC moments added a lot of text to this chapter that I think makes it better. You should go check out his stories when you have a chance.  
_

_There are several things I want to point out:_

_1) I am still debating whether or not to make his zanpakuto Zangetsu. Before anyone gets upset about this Ichigo is still at the point in time where he is using Rukia's shinigami power as his own. Who is to say that given enough time Rukia's power would influence his own, innate, powers and warp them into something new? Food for thought._

_2) If you want to see what Ichigo's armor is based upon look up 'Alabaster Plate.'_

_3) I saw the Legend of Korra season finale and now I have a strong urge to include a shaman named Korra in my story. Eh, I'm sure the urge will pass eventually._

_**Revised: November 19, 2013: I accidentally uploaded the chapter with the rough draft of Sylvanas's conversation. I took a look at it (with the help of a reader) and saw that she was completely out of character at one point. It has been updated and she should now be more in line with her characterization.**_

* * *

...

* * *

**Rise of the True Death God: Chapter 3**

Ichigo's sleep that night was anything but pleasant. Instead of his usual dreamless slumber he found himself involuntarily subjected to a mixture of dreams and nightmares that caused him to toss and turn in his bed.

"Where am I?"

He was standing in the middle of upon first glance looked to be Karakura Town. Glancing from side to side Ichigo noticed that there was no one else. He could hear no cars, people or even the standard noises and sounds that he had come to expect from his hometown. Even the animals that somehow made their homes in the trees and buildings were quiet. It was almost as if he was standing in the middle of a ghost town.

Shifting his gaze skyward Ichigo saw that the normal blue sky had been replaced by a swirling vortex of black, white and gray that seemed to be centered directly above him. Staring up into the center of the vortex Ichigo couldn't help but be wary of what awaited on the other side. Unable to quell the feeling of unease bubbling up in his mind Ichigo began walking down the deserted street, his footsteps echoing as he went.

**_"Why didn't you save me big brother? I was all alone."_**

"Yuzu?" Ichigo spun around at the voice, "Yuzu I-"

What he saw was not his sister. What stood in front of him was something alien in the shape of Yuzu Kurosaki. Her normally expressive and hope-filled eyes were now dead and a dark shadowy mist constantly wafted off her body only to dissipate inches later. When he took a step towards her the shadows surrounding Yuzu doubled and a harsh wind prevented him from getting any closer.

**_"Why did you leave me to die?"_**

"I didn't!" he argued. He knew this thing wasn't his sister but his heart was clenching just from the voice. It might not be Yuzu but it sounded just like his sister, "I tried to save you!"

The shadowy figure mimicking Yuzu didn't say anything. Instead the shadows surrounding her enveloped her body and a moment later his other sister Karin was standing in her place, **_"We waited for you to save us Ichigo. Dad said you wouldn't let us get hurt. Where were you when the demons came to our house?"_**

His fist clenched at the heart wrenching accusation. What was the point of asking him these questions if he already knew the answer?

"I didn't want to leave you behind," he answered somberly after a moment, "I tried to come back for you. There's no excuse for leaving you and Yuzu alone. I'm sorry Karin."

When he received no response Ichigo looked up and saw the shadow figure of Karin had vanished. After briefly looking around the gray and dreary streets Ichigo began to wonder if he had actually even seen them to begin with. Sighing and turning around he wondered if the guilt over everything that happened was beginning to erode his sanity. He knew, damn it he knew, that nothing that happened on his world was his fault but he couldn't help but take the blame for it. His name meant 'one who protects' and yet he wasn't able to do a damn thing to save anyone. Some protector he was…

A loud crash reverberated through the area and nearly knocked Ichigo off his feet. Looking around for what could have caused it Ichigo saw a column of smoke and fire rising from behind some buildings to his right. As he tried to think what could have caused it he heard a different sound, almost like something shifting a great amount of weight, come from the same direction.

"What the hell was that?"

His question was answered as a large clawed hand gripped around the roof of the building in front of him. That claw was quickly followed by an enormous green dragon that had to stand nearly twenty feet high and more than triple that in length.

"What the fuck?"

Ichigo's outburst caught the green dragon's attention. As it spun to look down on him with its glowing, pupil-less eyes it growled. While that was frightening enough on its own the dragon then spoke to him.

**"Your kind does not belong in the realm of dreams! Begone!"**

With that the dragon reared its head back and let loose a stream of green flames towards him. Unable to react in time Ichigo crossed his arms in front of his face and braced himself as the emerald fire enveloped his body.

Ichigo woke up with a start. Taking in a couple of deep breathes it took him a few seconds to realize that he was not on fire and everything that had just happened was only a dream, or more like a nightmare. Laying back down as his breathing and heart rate returned to normal he glanced through the single-paned window and saw the first rays of the early morning sun beginning to filter through the trees of Hillsbrad and into his room.

Turning away from the window and staring at the ceiling Ichigo wondered what his dream meant. It seemed to real to be a normal dream. In fact, if he thought about it, it was eerily similar to how Medivh had first come in contact with him the day before the Burning Legion arrived. Ichigo didn't want to make any conclusions but he was wary about what it meant.

_"What the hell was up with that dragon? What did it mean I didn't belong?"_

Ichigo knew that green dragon wasn't part of his dream but he couldn't explain how. There was just something strange and foreign about the dragon that made him think it came to his dream for a purpose.

_"Who's going to believe me?"_ he sarcastically thought as he rose out of bed. Sitting on the edge of the bed and stretching his sore muscles, he looked around the small, but comfy, room that Phin Odelic had been nice enough to rent for him.

The room had all the basic amenities he'd come to expect from an inn. There was a bed, a nightstand and a small writing desk in the corner across from the door. The window next to the bed gave him a good view of the surrounding forest.

"Wait a second…"

Something seemed different than he remembered. Ichigo looked around his room again and saw a piece of paper folded up on his desk. Curious about how it got there he walked over and unfolded it to find it was a handwritten note.

"Ichigo," he began reading out loud, "This is Phin Odelic. I want to thank you for the help yesterday. Go talk to Robert at his workshop as soon as you can. He has something that I think you'll appreciate."

Ichigo looked at the note for several moments before crumpling it up and tossing it into the trash. Putting on his shihakusho, mindfully noting that it seemed to be in even worse shape than it was yesterday, he left his room and headed towards the blacksmith.

* * *

...

* * *

Ichigo stared at the mannequin draped in a suit of armor with a mixture of disbelief and awe.

"How the hell did you manage to do this without measuring me?"

Robert Aebischer chuckled, "Don't you remember? I wasn't exaggerating when I said was the best blacksmith north of the Wetlands. You wouldn't believe how many requests I get to come back to Stormwind and train a bunch of children. I have spent so many years crafting and forging armor and weapons that the moment you walked in yesterday I had a rough estimate of your height, weight and sizes."

"Yeah…" Ichigo was a little disturbed by this but decided to push past it, "It is done?"

"I began working on it yesterday evening. Usually I don't start for a couple of days but you must have done something really important because Marcus came to me and, in his own way, ordered me to have your armor done before noon today."

Ichigo inwardly sweated a little. How does someone explain that they have the leader of a nation of the undead out for his blood? Hopefully Phin was right and he still had a few hours before Sylvanas, or whatever her name was, retaliated. Putting his troubles with the forsaken on the backburner for the moment Ichigo stepped forward and examined the armor Robert had crafted for him.

"You like it?" Robert said, the pride in his work evident in his voice, "I based it off the Alabaster armor model but I decided to make a few adjustments and modifications."

"Modifications?" Ichigo picked up one of the silver gauntlets and found that it weighed next to nothing but that was impossible. The metal looked and felt like steel and yet it weighed nothing close to that.

"For starters I decided to forgo fitting you a helm."

Ichigo dropped the gauntlet back down and looked at Robert, "Why?"

"Since you use a zweihander you need as much visibility as you can. A helm, while protecting your head, would limit your field of vision and allow an opponent to potentially sneak up on you. I assume you don't want a blade piercing through your neck because you didn't see the enemy coming."

"I suppose that makes sense," Ichigo muttered although, if he was honest, it really didn't but Robert was the blacksmith so he had to trust him on this matter.

Robert nodded sagely and pointed to several of the interlocking silver plates, "Instead of simply using mithril I added in a small amount of truesilver to increase your defense against magic."

"Hold on a second," Ichigo stopped Robert before he could go any further, "How does it help with magic?"

Robert looked as if Ichigo wasn't close to being the first one to ask him that, "Truesilver ore has several arcane properties that a skilled blacksmith like myself can take advantage of. If refined correctly, truesilver's mystical properties can be concentrated to the point where a small amount added to the forging process can resist or even negate certain magical attacks. I wouldn't recommend walking head on into a Fire Blast though. Truesilver might stop magic but the heat from the spell will still cook you alive."

"Now then," the blacksmith continued speaking once Ichigo was done asking him questions, "I went one step further. If you take a look under the armor itself you can see the mithril chainmail as well as the undershirt and cloth leggings. A good hunter, especially if they're a night or high elf, can hit between the metal plates with their eyes closed. That is where the chainmail comes in. The connected rings will absorb and dissipate the energy in the arrows but only if shot at from a distance. At close range…well, I don't need to tell you what will happen but it won't be a pretty sight."

"Won't the combined weight of the armor and chainmail make it hard for me to move?"

"You must never have spoken to a blacksmith before," Robert shook his head and reaching over to a stack of ingots. Lazily picking one at random, he tossed it into the air before throwing it at Ichigo. Ichigo let out a shout of surprise and attempted to grab it, knowing that it will probably break a bone or two in his hands. To his surprise his hand wrapped around the ingot without much effort.

"What the hell?"

Robert let out a boisterous laugh, "That ingot you're holding is pure mithril boy! It's harder and tougher than steel and silver but weighs about a fourth of either one. A suit of armor made of iron or steel weighs somewhere between twenty and twenty-five kilograms but if you forge it out of mithril it'll only weigh a quarter of that! I've worn mithril armor during my time in the Stormwind Army and I can tell you that it's like nothing you've ever worn. Once you put it on and experience how light it is you'll never want to wear steel, thorium or anything else ever again."

Ichigo had stopped paying attention to the blacksmith once he mentioned how light mithril was. Holding the ingot in his hand and giving it an experimental toss he wondered how something like mithril could exist. If it had existed on his world it would have revolutionized so many things. Modern industry might have evolved in an entirely different direction.

"Now if I am done explaining Blacksmithing 101 to you I need you to strip down to your underwear," Robert counted down from five as Ichigo's mind processed what he just asked.

"Wait. What?"

"I need to make sure the armor fits," Robert explained, "I may be a blacksmithing genius but even I make mistakes, as rare as they may be. I need you to strip down so I can test fit the armor and determine if I need to adjust anything. You don't want to be in the middle of a battle and suddenly find your armor falling to pieces because it was improperly fitted, do you?"

"That's not the problem," Ichigo pointed out embarrassed, "I just don't want to strip in front of a total stranger!"

"Fine," Robert grumbled and turned his back to Ichigo, "If you're going to be a child about it I'll just turn around until you're comfortable."

Not trusting the blacksmith Ichigo quickly removed his shihakusho and began the arduous process of putting on his armor one piece at a time. The black shirt and pants, as well as the mithril chainmail, went on without so much as a problem. Flexing an arm and finding almost no resistance or weight from the chainmail Ichigo had to admit that Robert was right about the metal. Next came the greaves, gauntlets and boots, all of which he was able to secure by himself. When he tried to properly put on the chest armor he found his arms unable to reach the straps. After several failed attempts only to realize his arms couldn't bend the way he needed them Ichigo grumbled. He was going to need some help.

"I could use a hand here."

"It's about damn time you asked for my help," Robert had anticipated Ichigo's trouble. With an experienced hand he easily buckled the brigandine into place, "But I'm surprised you managed to get so far. Usually my customers want me to do everything for them."

"Wait, how many customers can you have in a place like this?"

"You'd be surprised," After strapping the layered mithril pauldrons into place Robert stepped back and admired his handiwork, "Everything looks good…nothing seems loose or out of place. Do you mind moving around a bit? I need to see if everything is fitting correctly."

Ichigo flexed a hand, the silver gauntlet moving and flexing in time with his fingers. Clenching a fist he then took a few steps forward, "Everything seems fine to me."

"That's good…" Robert nodded absentmindedly. It was obvious that there was something on his mind, "Would you mind doing me a favor?"

Ichigo stopped examining his armor and turned to the blacksmith, "Like what?"

Robert motioned towards Ichigo's zanpakuto with a nod of his head, "I find myself intrigued by your blade. Do you mind if I examine it? I promise I won't damage it."

While Robert might have thought his request was quite normal Ichigo was apprehensive about letting other than himself touch his zanpakuto. He was still confused and upset about what had happened to that undead he fought the previous night. He hadn't even been aiming for a killing blow and yet a shallow wound was enough to kill the deathguard. Ichigo was quite sure the blacksmith wouldn't impale himself on his zanpakuto but he couldn't account for what might happen if Robert were to even touch the hilt of his zanpakuto. Would Robert simply fall over dead or would nothing happen? As much as Ichigo wanted to simply refuse Robert's request he realized that might be suspicious and in the end he made up his mind.

"Fine," Ichigo said and handed the blacksmith his zanpakuto. He was careful to point the blade away from Robert and towards the ground, "I better not find any scratches on it once you're done with it."

Robert scoffed and chuckled, "What do you take me for, an apprentice? Of course I'll be gentle with it."

For a moment, as Robert reached out towards his zanpakuto, Ichigo had the faintest feeling that something bad was about to happen. Zanpakuto were supposed to slay hollows and help souls pass over to the Soul Society but this world was very different. He had no idea what kinds of effects coming here had on his zanpakuto. The second before the blacksmith grabbed hold of his zanpakuto's hilt seemed like an eternity to Ichigo and when Robert touched it without falling over dead or any other effects he let out a sigh of relief.

_"So it can't harm anyone that isn't cut by it. It's a relief to know it's not anymore dangerous than a normal blade."_

"This is quite a nice blade. Nice balance and weight distribution," Despite his professionalism Robert found himself even more impressed with Ichigo. The zweihander had to weigh nearly 5 kilograms and yet Ichigo had shown no strain or exhaustion from carrying it. Five kilograms might not seem that heavy but over the course of several hours of walking, running and fighting the weight tends to becomes much more noticeable. As intriguing as it was, it was not the most impressive aspect of Ichigo's zweihander. That honor went to the quality and craftsmanship.

Holding the blade in a standard two-handed grip Robert noticed that the weight between the blade and the hilt was perfectly balanced. Holding the blade in various stances and forms Robert found no additional strain on his arms. In his youth, when he apprenticed under Ironus Coldsteel in Ironfroge, Robert had made many subpar and low quality weapons. They would always turn out to be too top heavy to properly swing about or the weight would be improperly distributed, which made it nearly impossible to find a solid stance.

_"Who could have crafted such a remarkable blade?"_

Holding the blade parallel to his eyes Robert carefully analyzed each inch of Ichigo's zanpakuto. The blade was truly remarkable in every way, shape and form. He may proclaim to be the best blacksmith north of Ironforge but whoever made Ichigo's zweihander was in a league of his or her own. A normal blade, even one created by a master weaponsmith with years or decades of experience, had flaws. There might be a slight imperfection in the shape of the blade from where the metal did not cool evenly or a structural weakness due to the blacksmith not mixing the metals together in the correct ratio. Ichigo's zweihander had none of that.

_"If that wasn't enough I cannot find any trace of wear or use upon it."_

It was true. Robert carefully looked over the blade with a trained eye in search of anything wrong but found nothing. There were no cracks, chips or dents along the edge of the blade from combat and the junction between the hilt and the blade, where rust always tended to form first, was as polished as a new sword. This weapon was simply unbelievable.

"Tell me Ichigo," Robert tried to keep the excitement out of his voice. He was a man about to reach his fifties. He shouldn't start acting like a teenager receiving their first real blade, "Your zweihander is as close to perfection as a weapon can get. I must know who created this blade. Their work is the finest I have ever seen. Even my master, who is considered one of the greatest blacksmiths on Azeroth, could not create such a perfect weapon and quality."

"I don't know who made it," that much was true. Ichigo remembered Rukia stabbing him through the heart with her zanpakuto then there was a flash of light and suddenly he was holding his own zanpakuto, "A friend of my family gave it to me before I arrived in Southshore."

"I see," Robert handed Ichigo back his zanpakuto, "Well I suppose this is where we part ways. You have your armor so your chances of meeting with a terrible fate will be low. Good luck in whatever you are going to do."

Ichigo nodded and turned to leave the stable. No more words were said between them as Ichigo walked out of the dark building and into the mid-morning light of Hillsbrad Fields.

* * *

...

* * *

As consciousness slowly returned to Marco Ghoulstomper the first thing he noticed is that he was being dragged along the floor.

_"What happened to me?"_

His arrival to the Undercity was about as eventful as ever. He had flown in through the old sewers and over the putrid green slime that flowed in rivers through the ancient canals. Michael Garrett, the local flight master of the Undercity, had been there to greet him upon arrival, the sarcasm in his sardonic 'welcome to the Undercity' not lost to the deathguard. Still, as much as he had wanted to return the favor with a sarcastic comment of his own, Marco had a job to do. So instead of saying anything he simply flipped Michael off with both hands and began making his way out of the Trade District towards the Royal Quarters.

The journey was quick and eventless. Apart from a lumbering abomination forgetting to look where it was going and falling off a ledge into the flowing green rivers below nothing really exciting happened. That all changed once he reached the steps leading to the Royal Quarters.

Security around the Royal Quarters had always been tight. Marco might not have been to the Undercity more than a dozen times in the years since his reanimation as a forsaken but even he was aware of how difficult it was for someone to enter the chambers of the Dark Lady uninvited.

There were several lines of defense someone, most likely a fervent and insane human, would have to pass through before even reaching the royal chambers. The Undercity itself was the first and most powerful defense the Dark Lady had. Thousands of forsaken, dozens if not hundreds of abominations and not to mention the ghouls, zombies, and the other races composing the Horde stood between an intruder and just the entrance to the Royal Quarters. If someone was powerful and stupid enough to make it that far then they had to contend with the royal deathguards.

Handpicked by the Dark Lady herself upon rebirth and indoctrinated to put her safety above even their own undead lives, the royal deathguards were the epitome of loyal soldiers. Marco had met one of them and he was certain that there was nothing left in that pitiful deathguard's mind than instructions to protect the Dark Lady. If Marco still believed in a higher power he would have prayed for their cold, corrupted souls.

If someone were to actually get through the Undercity alive and intact, break through the royal deathguards without so much as a scratch and make it to the royal chamber itself then they would face the third and final line of defense: the Dark Lady herself. Marco had never seen his queen fight but knew deep within his soul that she could annihilate any of them without becoming winded.

His problems began as soon as he stopped in front of the hall leading to the Royal Quarters.

It was all standard procedure so there should have been no problem. If anyone wanted to even think about walking into the Royal Quarters on their own two feet or with their heads still attached to their necks they needed to follow procedure. A royal deathguard would step forward and order them to give the reason they should pass through. If the reason given were valid enough to warrant speaking to the Dark Lady then they would proceed. If not…Marco did not have any questions about those who would waste the time of the Dark Lady. If they did then…well…they brought whatever happens to them upon themselves.

"Halt," the emotionless voice of the royal deathguard commanded. Marco did not dare to move even one part of his undead body. Any sign of movement would be taken as an act of aggression, "For what meaningless purpose do you dare hope to see the Dark Lady?"

The feminine voice, which Marco could tell much have come from southeastern Lordaeron from the way she drew out certain sounds, did not seem to have a lot of patience. Playing his cards safely he said, "I have an important missive from High Executor Darthalia of Tarren Mill."

The royal deathguard held out a skeletal hand, the gauntlet failing to hide the fact that she had no flesh on her fingers. Marco placed the letter he had been given from Darthalia into the royal deathguard's hand and stepped back.

That was when his problem really started.

The royal deathguard had opened the missive and read through it. When she did not say anything Marco assumed everything was all right and missed the slight twitch in her neck. Before he could think two more royal deathguards appeared out of the shadows on either side of him. Marco had barely turned to look before one bashed him over the head with his shield.

_"By the shadows…what did Darthalia write down?"_

Before he could think of anything he was unceremoniously thrown onto the floor. While the impact did not cause him any pain it was still very jarring.

"What is the meaning of this…interruption?"

The headache and dizziness quickly left Marco upon hearing the voice of the Dark Lady. He tried to push himself up into a kneeling position, as to not seem rude, but one of the royal deathguards pressed down on his back with their foot. Despite not being able to move Marco was still able to turn his head and managed to see one of the royal deathgaurds step forward and present something to the Dark Lady. Upon a closer look he saw it was the missive he had come to the Undercity to deliver.

Marco watched the Dark Lady's reaction as she hastily read through the letter. He saw her expression change from displeasure and indifference to rage and anger and finally to cold hatred. When her eyes settled on him he did his best not to flinch.

"Leave me alone with him."

The royal deathguards still in the chamber bowed gracefully once and disappeared back into the shadows where they no doubt waited until the Dark Lady needed them. Fearful for his life Marco struggled to get to his feet. He did not want to know what the Dark Lady had in mind for him but it could not be pleasant.

"What's the matter?" Lady Sylvanas Windrunner, also known as the Dark Lady, asked in mock polite as she slowly walked down the steps from her throne, "You seem to be in quite the rush to get up…Marco."

"You-you know of me, my lady?"

A cold and calculating smile graced Sylvanas's lips and it frightened Marco to no end, "But of course. Darthalia was quite…belligerent in her message that you get the credit for what happened in Hillsbrad."

An arrow pierced through Marco's shin and into the stone tiles composing the floor. His yellow eyes opened in shock. He hadn't even seen the Dark Lady draw a weapon. Nervously shifting his gaze from his pinned leg towards Sylvanas he saw her twirling another arrow in between her fingers, a light purple miasma wafting off the end.

"I wouldn't be too worried about your life," Sylvanas haughtily said as she came to a stop several feet in front of Marco, "I have no intention of ending your undeath if you simple give me the answer to a few simple questions."

"O-Of course my lady," Marco stammered and tried to pull the arrow out of his leg only for another one to pin his right foot to the ground.

"Your attempt to leave is quite rude Marco Ghoulstomper," Sylvanas mockingly frowned, "Now that you cannot leave let's begin. I'll start with an easy question. What did the human look like?"

If that wasn't a loaded question then Marco wasn't a forsaken. Realizing that he would not leave the Undercity, or this room alive if he didn't give the Dark Lady what she wanted he began talking, "He was young, no older than eighteen human years, with dark orange or red hair and piercing brown eyes. He wore a black robe that seemed torn and burnt in places. I have seen many mages and warlocks in my life but what the human wore was unique. If I had to hazard a guess I'd say it was made for close combat. I have never seen anything like it."

"Good," Sylvanas's tone betrayed no satisfaction, "What about his weapon? Tell me everything."

"It looked like a zweihander. No markings, runes or symbols of any kind were on it," Marco took a chance and glanced upwards into the face of Sylvanas and flinched back. She was not happy with his answer. He needed to think quickly, "But there was a feeling I got when the human drew his blade."

"A feeling?" Sylvanas repeated sarcastically. Deciding that Marco was hiding something from her she made the motion of visibly drawing the Sunstrider's Longbow that had been given to her when she was promoted to Ranger-General all those years ago. Usually she could get her people to tell her anything but Marco did not have the usual infatuation forsaken had with her. He had come back from death free of the Lich King's mental control and thus only joined the forsaken because he had no where else to go.

Marco saw that he might be one arrow away from actually dying and quickly explained, "His weapon emanated a feeling that I find hard, if not impossible, to describe. On one hand I felt a sense of unease and dread of what will happen if it should cut me but another part wanted to find out. It was very confusing."

Sylvanas lowered her longbow slightly. Apparently the human's weapon gave off a faint mental compulsion that could be easily resisted by any forsaken of sufficient mental fortitude. This was a piece of interesting information that would make hunting down this human much easier.

When she focused her gaze on the deathguard, Marco refused to lock eyes with her, "Did you happen to find out this human's name?"

"His name?" Marco weighed his options for a moment before realizing Sylvanas had asked him a question that did not require much thinking. After a second he forced himself to look at her face and said, "He didn't give a name. I had asked for it, as a show of honor, but he refused to reciprocate."

"How very interesting…"

While a name would make hunting down this human much easier, Sylvanas had worked with less information before and gotten results. Still, she needed to proceed cautiously with this new development. Unlike the bastard Arthas, who knew she was out for his blood or whatever ran through his frozen veins at this point in time, this human did not know she was targeting him. That could work to her advantage.

"You may consider yourself fortunate that I have better things to do than killing you. As much as the High Executor demanded that you pay the price for your failure I think that what you discovered earned you a reprieve," Sylvanas turned around and walked back towards her throne, "But my patience with your presence in my chambers is limited. You have ten seconds to leave before I consider you and intruder. Ten…nine…five…"

Without even considering the damage he was doing to his body, it could always be repaired by a priest later on, Marco ripped himself off the elfwood shafts the Dark Lady used in her arrows and sprinted out of the royal chamber just as the Dark Lady reached the count of one.

Sylvanas watched Marco flee with veiled amusement. Some would say that she was soft and weak to allow the deathguard to flee with his life but the Dark Lady dared those that did to say it to her face. She was always open to criticism…

"How long do you plan to stand in the shadows plotting Varimathras?"

The nathrezim walked out of the corner of the chamber, the shadows peeling off his demonic body like water, **"You always did have an eye for detail Sylvanas. Perhaps that is why I continue to serve you."**

"You continue to serve me because in a moment of insanity I once spared your pathetic life," Sylvanas glared at Varimathras with her glowing red eyes, "But I shall not make the same mistake twice. What do you want?"

Varimathras chuckled, **"I couldn't help but read that letter while you were distracted by your petty emotions. A blade that can sever the soul from the body with but a swing…now where have I heard that before?"**

Several arrows shot towards the nathrezim at blinding speeds but Varimathras seemed unfazed by the wounds in his body, **"Your temper is still the stuff of legends. I can see why Arthas found you such a troublesome opponent but let's cut to the heart of the matter. I find myself…not nervous, per say, but concerned about this human."**

"Nervous you say?" the corner of Sylvanas's lip curled upwards.

**"Arthas does not scare me for he remains upon his frozen throne to the north with only his plots and power to comfort him. As long as he does not change the status quo then frostmourne remains safely at a distance. This new player to the game is different. A new frostmourne appearing is a surprise and I do not like surprises."**

"I never thought I would see the day that you would show any emotions other than contempt and pride," Sylvanas rested her head on a fist and crossed her legs, "But what do you suggest we do about this human? He is too dangerous to live and yet we have no clue as to what his motive or purpose is."

**"This new player is quite cunning,"** Varimathras admitted with scorn, **"He has a blade similar to frostmourne and but he has yet to slay the living and raise them as the undead bound to his will. In all likelihood he is infinitely more cunning and patient than the prince was or ever will be. ****All this human has to do is bide his time and suspicion on him will be kept to a minimum. In all likelihood we would never have noticed him if he hadn't shown himself last night but I wonder if that was part of his plan."**

"His plan you say?" Sylvanas did not like it when things developed faster than she could anticipate and counter. Such a lack of foresight doomed Quel'thalas to destruction and her soul to an eternity of torment.

**"He had no reason to show himself. It was possibly the riskiest decision he could make and yet he did it…brazenly I might add. This human appears to have the cunning of a dreadlord. A frightening prospect indeed."**

Sylvanas narrowed her eyes in thought. The nathrezim had made a valid, and frighteningly accurate, point. She had no idea why this human was in Hillbrad or even where he was going. Arthas, that name still filled her soul with rage, had been prideful enough to explain his plans to those he thought dead or no longer an issue. If Marco, that sorry excuse for a deathguard, had been right than this human did not explain his motives at all but still something bothered her. Suddenly it hit her and she cursed herself for not realizing it earlier.

"The new plague…"

**"The improved version of the plague of undeath that you have your apothecaries working on? ****I never understood why you try to improve upon something that's already perfect.****"**

"Yes," Sylvanas said in a tone that suggested it was the most obvious thing in the world, "The letter from Darthalia said the human knew what the courier was carrying. The courier had been transporting notes on the almost completed new plague to Tarren Mill. That human is up to something with my plague and I will not stand for it. No one crosses me and lives to tell about it."

Varimathras chuckled again, **"Then what do you suggest?"**

Sylvanas calmed down and composed her features. She needed to keep her emotions out of this until she had this human bound and gagged at her feet, "Going directly after him will be a problem. There is no telling whether he can sense the undead or even control them. If he is as brilliant and cunning as you infer he could turn my forsaken against me and send them back to the Undercity as an unwitting spy. He also doesn't seem to be overly antagonistic towards us. We can use that to our advantage and play it safe. Observe him from a distance and find out where he is going. I know the perfect person for such a task…"

* * *

...

* * *

As Ichigo stepped outside he was forced to cover his eyes from the sun directly overhead. He must have been inside for longer than he thought because when he had first walked into Robert's stable the sun had barely been above the trees to the east. Either he had lost track of time or this world did not have the same length day as his world.

_"There's so much about this world that confuses me."_

He hadn't noticed it yesterday when he first arrived due to everything that had happened back on his world but upon careful observations it was apparent that Azeroth was a much different place than Earth. The forsaken, for instance, had initially surprised him but he quickly got over it. He had been a temporary shinigami on his world so the concept of the dead coming back to life didn't surprise him as much as it might someone else. What drew the focus of his thoughts wasn't something obvious like magic and various sentient races besides humans but the covert and hard to visualize differences.

He didn't know if it was because he wasn't from Azeroth or that as a shinigami he had some sort of extrasensory perception that most, if not all, people on this world lacked but he could sense something in the air. As much as he tried to describe it he couldn't. It was like trying to come up with a new color that no one had seen before. Ichigo couldn't describe it despite his best efforts but he knew it was there.

Realizing that he would not be able to do anything about it or, even if he could, what it meant Ichigo shrugged and decided it wasn't worth thinking about. As he walked down the streets while getting the odd glance or two from people interested in his new armor Ichigo found it amazing, despite Robert telling him already, how light mithril was. The fact that it was stronger and more durable than steel and yet weighed only a quarter of it was yet another sign that Azeroth and his own world were completely different. If something like mithril had existed on his world someone would have found it.

As he made his way towards the road leading out of Southshore Ichigo realized something important – he had no idea where to go.

Aside from the vague notion that he needed to go to Stormwind, wherever that was, he had no clue what he would do once he got there. In fact, the only reason he was even going there was because one of the guards told him about it yesterday and, with no other options, he agreed. A more pressing matter was the issue of actually getting there. He didn't know where Hillsbrad was relative to anything on Azeroth. For all he knew Stormwind could be thousands of miles away across an ocean or just around the metaphorical corner.

_"Ok,"_ Ichigo grimaced in annoyance and rubbed his eyes, _"How do I even leave this place?"_

While he had no idea where Stormwind was Ichigo was having trouble just leaving Southshore. Last night when he stole the notes on a new plague from the forsaken courier he had waited by a road that led off both to the east and west. If he left Southshore without a starting point on where to go who knows where he would end up? He had never really been the best person when it came to directions and if he tried figuring it out on his own he would, in all likelihood, get inexplicably lost.

Ichigo sighed and looked up into the sky. At the current rate he would need to flip a coin when he reached the intersection in the road. The problem was that he didn't have a coin to begin with, "I suppose I'll burn that bridge when I reach it."

"I thought you might try and leave as soon as you could Ichigo."

Ichigo turned upon hearing the familiar voice. Standing near a woman who was feeding a pair of gryphons what looked like parts of a cow was Marcus Redpath. The marshal of Southshore was sitting in a chair and the expression on his face suggested he had been waiting for Ichigo to arrive for quite a while.

"What are you talking about?"

Getting out of the chair with a small grunt, Marcus walked towards Ichigo, "You have earned quite a reputation Ichigo. When Phin spoke to me this morning about what you helped him discover I was both flabbergasted and shocked. It is unprecedented for someone who had just arrived in Southshore to help us in such a way without expecting anything in return. This town owes you quite a bit of gratitude young man."

While being called 'young man' was better than being called a boy Ichigo was still suspicious of the marshal's motives for waiting for him, "I only helped to get this armor I'm wearing made for free. You were so persistent that I do that I was left with no choice but to help."

"Be that as it may," Marcus said without showing the least amount of annoyance at Ichigo's dismissal of his gratitude, "You still helped us. You and I both know that if you really wanted to leave Southshore there was nothing I could have done to stop you apart from physically restraining you and, to be honest, I don't think I have the manpower to accomplish that."

Marcus had a point. As much as he did not want to fight Ichigo was certain he could have taken Marcus's soldiers on without much trouble. The problem was that while he could have left Southshore without being stopped he would have made an enemy on a world that he didn't belong to already. He couldn't afford to alienate himself from everyone that he met just because he didn't want to be forced to deal and interact with that.

"So why are you stopping me now?" Ichigo was curious for why Marcus was here. He was damn well sure it wasn't to offer his heartfelt thanks and appreciation.

Marcus's expression tightened as he recollected what Phin had told him, "You might have saved us all from a fate even worse than death Ichigo. Did Phin tell you what the notes contained?"

Ichigo nodded grimly, "Something about a new plague. I wasn't too worried about the details. Anything dealing with a plague is bad news."

"You are correct," Marcus nodded, "Phin wasn't able to piece everything together since some notes were missing or incomplete but the damned forsaken weren't just planning on raising the people of this town into undeath. Their plan was much more sinister and unholy. They've been trying to weaponize their plague, change it into something that could be used to do just more than raise the dead. If Phin is right, and by the Light I hope he isn't wrong, then this new plague has been transformed from simply a disease to an explosive substance that the forsaken were planning to use on Southshore."

"That's…" Ichigo swallowed nervously. Who could think of doing something like that? It went against every fiber of his being.

"That was my reaction," Marcus thought Ichigo was taking it quite well. His own reaction to the forsaken's new plague was a mixture of mute shock and denial. To think that Southshore had been only a year or two away from complete destruction at the hands of something even more deadly than the plague of undeath, "You did Southshore, and Stormwind, a great service. With the notes we have on the new plague, as well as other forsaken military secrets, we can break through the aerial blockade and get a message to Stormwind about the current situation. You saved us all from a terrible fate and for that I want you to take this."

Marcus looked away from Ichigo and nodded to someone. As soon as he did a soldier appeared with a backpack-sized knapsack. Taking the knapsack and thanking the soldier, who quickly returned to his post, Marcus saw Ichigo's confused expression and began explaining.

"Consider this a token of Southshore's appreciation for all your help," Marcus explained as he handed it to Ichigo.

"What's in it?" Ichigo asked as he opened the knapsack and began riffling through the various items within.

"I remember you saying you arrived in Hillsbrad as a result of a portal accident so I took the liberty of gathering together some supplies you will need once you head out of town. Most importantly there is a map of the northern Eastern Kingdoms. It only covers the land between Dun Morogh and Silverpine Forest so you will need to stop at Ironforge to travel the rest of the way to Stormwind."

"Ok," Ichigo nodded. This journey was starting to get complicated.

Unaware of Ichigo's annoyance Marco continued, "There is also about a week's worth of mage food and water in there. Since it was conjured up by magic it won't spoil or go bad. Aside from a small amount of emergency supplies there is also a small pouch with some gold and silver I managed to pool together. It's not much but it should get you where you need to go."

"Thanks," Ichigo muttered.

There was a pregnant silence for the next several second. As Ichigo turned to leave Marcus called out for him, "Before you go I have one last bit of advice for you."

The marshal motioned with his hand towards Ichigo's new knapsack. Handing it over, Ichigo watched Marcus pull out the map and lay it on a nearby bench, "I know you have never been to Hillsbrad before so listen carefully. The easiest way to Stormwind would be to take the road north out of Southshore and then make a right once you reach the old Alterac Highway. If you follow the highway to the east past Durnholde Keep and through Thoradin's Wall you'll find yourself in the Arathi Highlands."

Marcus seemed to ponder something before continuing, "My information is a little outdated on the current situation in the highlands but it is safe to assume that the Syndicate has control over most of the fields and meadows. Durnholde Keep is also under the control of the Syndicate bastards so be sure to not get too close. Stick to the road and just past Stromgarde Keep you'll reach Refuge Pointe. Talk to Commander Amaren once you arrive and tell her that I sent you. She should be more than willing to help you get through the highlands."

Ichigo folded his arms as something nagged at his mind, "Thanks for the help but won't the undead be looking for me after what I did to them last night? I didn't exactly get on their good side with what I did."

"Good point," Marcus conceded and studied the map for a moment before pointing to a spot of land just to the east of Southshore, "Here. You can bypass taking the highway past Tarren Mill if you cut through the Nethander Stead to the east.

"Nethander Stead?"

"It's an old farmstead that was abandoned when the plague hit Lordaeron. In the following years, with no one to till or protect it, gnolls have moved it and claimed it as their territory. The gnolls have a hatred for the undead so you shouldn't encounter any forsaken near the farm."

"What is a gnoll exactly?"

"Think of a highly territorial, hyena-like beast that's about five feet tall and will eat anything they can catch. If you avoid getting too close to them and don't touch anything in the stead you should be able to get through without being bothered. Once you pass it you should reach the highway near Durnholde Keep. Light bless you on your endeavors Ichigo."

As Marcus Redpath walked away to continue his duties as the military leader and protector of Southshore Ichigo turned to the east and took a deep breath. This is it, he thought with a small amount of trepidation mixed with nervousness. He had no idea what was out there waiting for him or what he could expect to find. All he knew was that he was utterly alone on this world and it would stay that way.

With that he stepped out of town and into the forests of Hillsbrad, eyes peeled for any sign of movement and one hand resting on the hilt of his zanpakuto.

* * *

...

* * *

"If you keep moving around I'm going to cut your leg off out of spite."

Marco forced himself to stay still as the apothecary finished healing his torn flesh and bones. After he had managed to hobble out of the Royal Quarters with his undead life intact he made his way to the nearby Apothecarium to be healed. Usually he wouldn't be caught near this place. Master Apothecary Faranell had the reputation for being bat-shit insane even for a forsaken. If the rumors about him were true, and Marco had no doubt that they were, then he had to make sure he wasn't left along with Faranell. He didn't want to wake up as part of the master apothecary's unholy experiments.

"I appreciate your help Katrina."

Katrina Rotsnapper scoffed, "Why is it that whenever you come to visit me you're always in need of repairs?"

Marco sighed, "Probably because that's the only way you'll talk to me."

Apothecary Katrina Rotsnapper was one of the highest members of the Royal Apothecary Society and stood just below the three grand masters although one would not know that just from appearances. Unlike Faranell and the other leaders who invent and test new poisons and plagues on the enemies of the forsaken, Katrina controls abomination development and creation. While other members of the society might look down on her for her work, Katrina takes pleasure in the gratitude the Dark Lady gives her. Every abomination in the Undercity was sewn together by her division and she is always on the lookout for corpses to stitch together to create more abominations. She is also one of the three forsaken gifted with the sacred knowledge of the unholy spell to reanimate the corpses into abominations.

"Why don't you just visit one of the hundred or so shadow priests milling about the Undercity?" Katrina asked as she pulled back on one of the stitches. It was lucky Marco could not feel pain as an undead or this would really hurt. Katrina wasn't exactly being gentle.

"The last time I went to a priest for healing the idiot removed my arm by mistake," Marco sarcastically replied, "Your work is better than a priest's anyway."

"How sweet of you. If I had a heart I would be swooning head over heels for you right now," Katrina rolled her eyes and stood back, "There. I'm done. Your legs should be as good as new now. How did you end up in that sorry state anyway Marco?"

"It's a long story Katrina," Marco knew better than to mention that the Dark Lady was responsible. No forsaken would ever dare to speak out against the Banshee Queen even if she were at fault in the matter. He had witnessed one forsaken whisper a derogatory comment about the Dark Lady a couple of weeks back and the next thing Marco knew that undead had run into a group of Scarlet Crusaders and was torn to pieces.

"Come on. You can tell me," Katrina motioned for him to get off the operating table. Marco wouldn't be surprised if this was where Katrina experimented with the corpses she loved so much.

"No I really can't."

"Fine," she threw her skeletal arms up into the air in frustration, "If you're not going to tell me then there is no more reason for you to be here. I have work to do and your presence is distracting me."

Marco finished putting his armor back up and walked towards the entrance, "It was nice seeing you too Katrina."

"So what happened to that mindless partner of yours?"

Marco stopped and turned around. Katrina was busy sifting through preserved body parts from various races. He didn't even want to think where she got them, "He's dead."

"It's about time," Katrina found what she was looking for and picked up a pair of legs, "Your partner didn't exactly come back from the dead with all of his wits intact. He was one outburst away from turning on the Dark Lady. I'm glad someone managed to put him out of his misery. "

He paused for a moment before saying, "So am I."

Heading up the ramps leading out of the Apothecarium Marco was deep in thought on what he should do. On the one hand he had no reason to help Ichigo or even protect him. Marco had experienced enough encounters with humans, and other races, which looked upon him and the rest of the forsaken with hatred and disgust but it had been a long time since he had met an honorable opponent. On the other hand he lied to his superior officer and, even worse, the Dark Lady herself. While there was no one left who could say he withheld information from the Dark Lady Marco wasn't stupid enough to think she couldn't figure it out on her own. If, no when, she did there would be hell to pay and Marco wasn't sure how bad the punishment would be. He had told the Dark Lady everything but a name but even that small omission may have him on Faranell's experiment list by the end of the day.

* * *

...

* * *

With a groan that expressed just how annoyed and pissed off he was Ichigo kicked away a gnoll with enough force to send it careening backwards across the Nethander Stead into a couple of its friends. Without even hesitating another gnoll attempted to close its jaws around Ichigo's neck only for the shinigami to duck before grabbing it and tossing it into the air.

"Can't you things take a hint?"

Ichigo's question fell on deaf ears as the rest of the gnolls quickly regrouped before snarling viciously at him and charging. Stepping around a haphazardly swung axe, Ichigo pivoted and smashed his elbow into the gnoll's face and forced it into unconsciousness. Before the gnoll could slide mercifully to the ground Ichigo heard a familiar crackling sound. Picking up the unconscious gnoll he spun around just as a shaman released a bolt of electricity from its clawed hands. The spell arced across the air and hit the gnoll Ichigo was holding dead center in the chest.

"That's not right."

Ichigo looked at the now dead gnoll he was holding before letting go of the burnt corpse. The shaman hadn't even hesitated to attack a fellow gnoll if it meant Ichigo would be hit by the attack as well. Luckily for him the Alabaster armor he wore was able to dissipate what part of the Lightning Blast that was able to pass through the gnoll and onto his body.

As he spotted several new gnolls join the battle Ichigo groaned, _"How did this even happen?"_

When Marcus told him the gnolls wouldn't attack if he left them alone Ichigo had put his trust in the marshal's experience dealing with the beasts. It hadn't taken Ichigo long after leaving Southshore through the forest to the east to reach the stead. It was roughly the same distance from the town as the forsaken outpost. The only obstacle that he encountered was the Darrowmere River but luckily the river had been narrow enough for him to easily jump across. After climbing a hill on the other side of the river Ichigo saw the stead and got his first glimpse of a gnoll.

His first impression of a gnoll was that it looked like a very ugly hyena that wore cheap and broken armor over their blue fur. Crouching low on the hill overlooking the stead to avoid being spotted he managed to overhear several of them speak a broken form of English. If the inane conversations he heard were any indication then gnolls were not the sharpest creatures.

_"I don't have time to mess around. I need to find another way around."_

Ichigo carefully looked around for a way around the stead. If he could stick to the hills surrounding the fields he could sneak around the gnolls without drawing any attention. Marcus might have told him that as long as he stayed far away from the stead they wouldn't bother him but Ichigo wasn't about to take a chance that the marshal was wrong. As he crept through the trees and around rocks, careful to not make too much noise, he heard growling coming from the trees to his left.

_"Oh, come on."_

When only one gnoll appeared out of the brush to his left Ichigo considered taking it down before moving on. Perhaps if he knocked it unconscious quickly enough it would prevent any more from spotting him. That plan quickly went to hell before he could even begin turning around as another two, then three, then a dozen gnolls appeared out of the forest. It didn't take long for Ichigo realize he had been surrounded.

As the various gnolls snapped salivating jaws in his direction and fought amongst themselves for the first bite of what they assumed was an easy and weak meal Ichigo was already considering his options. He knew that drawing his zanpakuto and killing the gnolls was both the fastest and easiest method but some part of his mind stayed his hand before he could. Although killing the gnolls would solve his problem right here and now he didn't know what kind of effect his zanpakuto would have on the creatures.

_"A zanpakuto was designed to slay hollows and send souls to the Soul Society."_

He had no idea what sort of effect coming to Azeroth had on his zanpakuto but until he did he was going to play it safe. Unless he absolutely needed to, he was not going to cut someone with his zanpakuto. That only left the immediate problem of the gnolls for him to deal with. Removing his hand from the hilt of his zanpakuto he cracked his knuckles as he decided to do this the old fashioned way.

Several minutes later and back in the present time Ichigo looked around with a satisfied smirk. As the gnolls that avoided being knocked unconscious fled from him, leaving their comrades behind, Ichigo couldn't help but appreciate their tenacity. If he was honest, beating the gnolls senseless again and again had started to get annoying. While he was both stronger and faster the gnolls were extremely stubborn. Several times he had been sure one had been knocked out only for it to get up the moment his back was turned and attempt to either bite or attack him.

After quickly looking around a final time to make sure the gnolls weren't up to anything Ichigo headed across the stead. Since they already knew he was here, sneaking around the stead became quite pointless. As he traversed the fields, careful to stick clear of the giant mushrooms growing in the same spot crops once did, and began ascending up the path leading away from the stead Ichigo looked around and noticed everything looked the same to him. It was just trees, rocks, hills, and mountains in the distance. Unwilling to find out he had been traveling in the wrong direction the entire time he reached into his knapsack and pulled out the map.

Carefully studying the map, and flipping it over when he realized he was looking at it upside down, Ichigo tried to look for a landmark. If he was where he needed to be then he should be able to see the Hinterland Range to the east. Glancing up from the map he saw several mountains peaking out from over the trees so he was close to where he needed to be,

"I guess I'm in the right spot," Ichigo folded the map up and put it back. As much as he appreciated what Marcus did for him, the marshal still treated him like a child. He may have no idea where on Azeroth he was but that didn't mean he couldn't figure it out on his own. The map was helpful for sure but Ichigo prided himself on being able to look out for himself. Even before he came to Azeroth he had been mostly independent and self-sufficient. In fact, his sisters-

Ichigo stopped that train of thought before it led him to a place he didn't want to go. Closing his eyes and forcing his mind to think about other things he turned to the south and began following the road to the Arathi Highlands.

As he trudged down the road Ichigo came to the conclusion that he could have arrived in a much worse place. From what he could gather from the conversations he heard in the inn last night Hillsbrad wasn't exactly the worst place he could have ended up. Apparently there were entire areas just to the north where the undead have taken complete control and the living are either killed or captured for experimentation.

_"So what's my purpose here?_" Ichigo thought pensively, _"I know Medivh said my journey or something was not yet over but the bastard didn't even give me a clue on where to go next. Am I to just wander around until something hits me in the face?"_

It wasn't long until Ichigo spotted what had to be Thoradin's Wall that Marco had mentioned. Ichigo had assumed it was either a barricade or simply just a name for a naturally occurring pass in the mountains but he did not expect to see what he did. The wall was easily over one hundred feet high and stretched across the ground in between two mountains. Ichigo didn't know who could build such a thing but whoever did must have had a very good reason.

"Keep moving freak!"

The harsh and hate-filled voice snapped Ichigo out of his thoughts. The substitute shinigami quickly hid behind a nearby outcropping of rocks before he could be spotted. After waiting several seconds, in case he had been spotted, he glanced and saw a sight that made him frown in disgust.

Nearly a dozen humans in a mix of grey leather and cloth armor with the bottom halves of their faces covered with red bandanas were walking down the road but that was not what pissed Ichigo off. It was the several bound and gagged figures that weren't human that caused him to clench a fist in disgust. He didn't need to be a genius to figure out what was going on here.

Ichigo carefully moved around the outcropping as the Syndicate members and their prisoners passed by. He didn't want to risk a confrontation just yet. He had no idea of their skills or abilities and while he was sure he could take on a few of them without much difficulty a dozen might be trouble. Despite wanting to rescue the prisoners Ichigo took a moment to look at them.

There were four prisoners of different races and genders in total but Ichigo could see that none of them were forsaken. There was a large green-skinned figure that towered almost a foot above the Syndicate rogues and was covered in fresh scars and wounds. It was clear that he had put up a fight against the humans before being captured. There were two blue skinned figures with tusks protruding from their faces, one male and female, in a similar state to the first prisoner. The last figure was a tall purple-skinned man with green hair and glowing silver eyes. He looked to be in the worst shape of the four prisoners with one eye swelled shut and red blood trailing down his lip.

Ichigo watched the procession walk down the road and turn into a ruined and mostly destroyed castle. Frowning he pulled out his map and saw that this was Durnholde Keep. This was the place Marcus had said the Syndicate took over and it was where they took the prisoners.

He took one look down the road towards Thoradin's Wall before coming to a decision on what to do. The way forward was probably clear of the Syndicate, which meant he could reach the Arathi Highlands without running into trouble. That was the easy thing to do but the simple thought of leaving those people to the mercy of those Syndicate bastards filled Ichigo with disgust. He knew what he had to do but he had to do it carefully. There was no telling how many enemies were inside the old and broken keep and he wasn't sure what they would do to the prisoners if he was spotted trying to rescue them.

Taking a moment to come up with a plan he slowly made his way towards the keep while making sure to stick to the shadows.


	4. Chapter 4: Stealth and I

_Here is Chapter 4 of **Rise of the True Death God**. This chapter would have been out a few days ago but I got caught up in Thanksgiving and put off writing it for a few days. I thank each and every person that leaves a review or puts this story on their alert/favorite list. In this chapter Ichigo comes face to face with his first non-humans on Azeroth. Sure he may have seen them in the last part of Chapter 3 but seeing and talking are two different things. I had to do some research on Warcraft III for this chapter but I think, as a result, that makes it much better._

_Once again I thank General Zargon for beta reading this chapter for grammatical errors, bad tenses and plot errors. Check out his stories when you get a chance._

* * *

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* * *

**Rise of the True Death God: Chapter 4**

It took Ichigo longer than he thought to find a way into Durnholde Keep without being spotted. When he watched the Syndicate drag the four prisoners in through the front gates he had seen at least five men waiting to escort them deeper into the keep. He was fairly certain that if he tried fighting the guards he might be able to win but he couldn't guarantee what the prisoners would remain safe. He needed to use stealth and strategy, which were two qualities that he hadn't had in abundance before this day, if he was going to pull this off. If Rukia could see him thinking his plans through she would either laugh her ass off or have a conniption.

As he carefully snuck around the keep, careful to stay out of view of the rogues on the dilapidated parapets above, he found a section of the outer wall that had been reduced to rubble sometime in the past. Ichigo waited until the nearest guard turned to circle back on his patrol before sprinting out of the protective cover of the trees and into the shadows cast by the keep walls. He hadn't realized it earlier but his Alabaster armor was as quiet as it was light. Perhaps it had something to do with the mithril and truesilver metals but Ichigo wasn't going to complain. If it made it easier for him to sneak into the keep without being spotted then it was fine with him.

Carefully climbing up the aged rubble and cracked ashlars, Ichigo was careful to not slip and disturb any loose materials. All it took was one loose stone, one weak spot, and he would have more unwanted attention than he could deal with before he even made it inside the outer walls of the keep. If that happened then he could only imagine what they would do to the prisoners.

The pile of rubble didn't quite reach the bottom of the gap in the wall. He would need to climb nearly six feet before he could even look inside the keep. Standing at the base of the wall Ichigo took a deep breath and reached up, his hands easily clasping around the stone blocks of the wall. With a grunt of effort he pulled himself up until his eyes were just able to see inside the keep.

The interior courtyard of Durnholde Keep might have once been a magnificent place with hundreds of guards and various workers milling about daily but not anymore. Where buildings and hastily constructed stalls and booths once stood where merchants could field their wares and items only rubble and burnt embers remained. Something had swept through the keep too quickly for the merchants to remove what they had if the various burnt metals and items strewn about in the rubble were any indication.

"Let's see now… where would they put prisoners?"

Several meters in front of him the ground and dirt suddenly dropped over into a pit while to the hill on his right stood the destroyed remains of what must have once been a large and well-fortified building. From the state of the building a powerful earthquake must have hit it sometime in the past. When something in the distance caught his eye Ichigo pulled himself up the wall a little further. It was hard to make out from where he stood but he could see the edges of three buildings just beyond the pit.

_"That must be where they took those people. Now how am I going to get down there without everyone in this place knowing about it?"_

His question would remain unanswered as Ichigo's senses felt something off. Quickly dropping back down below the wall, he pressed his body against the wall and didn't make a sound as he picked up the sound of approaching footsteps.

Up above a Syndicate rogue glanced around in confusion but his orange facemask made it look as if he was simply annoyed. Until just a few seconds ago he had been patrolling the area around the torturing pit. He wouldn't have picked that as a name but since it was where prisoners were interrogated for any useful information before being broken it made sense in a twisted way. He carefully looked around the area for any sign that something was amiss but, strangely, found nothing wrong or out of place. It looked just as run-down and destroyed as it was the last time he walked past over an hour ago.

The rogue turned to continue his patrol before he was punished for slacking off before abruptly stopping after only a few feet. As much as he would have preferred to get back to his boring job, he knew Marlgen would brand him a deserter or traitor for willingly ignoring a potential threat to the Syndicate. Their presence in Durnholde Keep, while strong, was constantly threatened by the disgusting undead at Tarren Mill and their animalistic allies in the Horde and the Alliance to the west in Southshore. While their strikes and assassinations against both towns have been largely successful in the past, pressure against the Syndicate has been increasing more and more in the recent weeks. If there was someone attempting to sneak into the keep it was his duty as a member of the Syndicate to find the intruder, capture them, beat out of them what they knew and then kill them as an example to others.

As he looked around, the rogue's gaze continued to focus on the large gap in the keep's outer wall. Something did not sit well with him about it despite the fact that there was nothing there that he could see. Cautiously stepping to the edge of the wall he looked out into the forests of Hillsbrad, his eyes carefully investigating every shadow that he found. Even with his limited education the rogue found it odd that the hole in the keep, and therefore in their defenses, had not been fixed yet. Hadn't they just captured several more potential prisoners and slaves earlier this afternoon? It shouldn't take the creatures long to fix the hole with the proper incentive. It was as he stood at the edge, his eyes peering into the early afternoon shadows, when two armored hands reached up and quickly closed around his ankles.

"What the-!"

The hands pulled on his ankles and the rogue quickly found his body falling through the air as his legs were pulled out from underneath him. As his back hit the ground with a jarring smack his hands were reaching around for any sort of grip or handhold to keep his body from being pulled completely outside. While his gloved hands failed to find any purchase on the dirt the force from the hands doubled in strength and with a gasp the rogue found himself temporarily floating through the air as he was thrown out of the keep and down the rubble on the other side of the wall.

Years of being forced to fight to survive allowed the rogue to quickly adapt to what was happening to him. Even as his head bounced off a rock his hands were in motion to arrest his movement. Rolling to a stop in the grass several meters away from the wall he reached towards his waist for his kris. Pulling the blade out of its sheath he felt a sharp pain in his arm as an armored boot kicked his wrist, forcing him to let go of his kris. Gripping his injured arm, the rogue tried to get a good look at his attacker when he felt a large weight pushing down on his chest.

"Who the hell are you?" he groggily asked. He tried to look at his attacker but the sun was positioned directly behind him, casting the man holding him down in shadows and darkness.

The man did not see fit to answer the rogue's question. Instead he moved his foot off his chest but before the rogue could even think about moving reached down and, with a surprising show of strength, grabbed his shirt and hefted him to his feet before proceeding to dangle him several inches off the ground. Gazing fearfully into the orange-haired man's brown eyes the rogue tried to keep his breathing calm even as his mind raced to the possible conclusions to this encounter.

"What do you want with me?"

That question invoked a response from his captor. Ichigo pulled the rogue closer to his face and bluntly asked, "What did you do with those people you just captured?"

"Why do you fucking care?" the rogue spat at Ichigo venomously. His captor must be with Stormwind intelligence, there was no other reason someone would pay so much attention to several non-humans being captured all the way in Hillsbrad. Whoever this man was, the rogue thought fearfully, he was frighteningly strong, "They're not even human. All those animals are good for is laboring for their betters."

"I'll ask you once more," Ichigo tightened his grip on the Syndicate rogue and received a satisfying wince of pain from the man. He didn't have time to deal with this racist bullshit. The longer he was forced to stand out here interrogating this man the greater the chance that his colleagues will notice his disappearance or something awful will happen to the people they captured. Time was of the essence, "Where did you take those people?"

Despite the fact that he was probably going to die in less than a minute the rogue spat at Ichigo, "Screw you."

Ichigo easily avoided the spit by leaning his head to the side. It was starting to become obvious that he was not going to get any information out of this man. Clenching a fist he said, "I don't have time for this."

Ichigo's words confused the rogue. Ever since the Alliance abandoned Alterac to poverty and thievery he had come to believe that the Alliance was full of weak leaders who would crumple under the first signs of danger. He became even more confused, with a small hint of worry, when Ichigo let go of him. Before he could utter a syllable as to why Ichigo was letting him go a fist was buried in the rogue's stomach.

The rogue was completely unprepared for Ichigo's strength. Mithril collided with leather and the rogue felt as if his ribs were about to shatter from the force of the blow. Letting out a windless gasp of pain, the rogue collapsed to his knees, his arms held tight around his stomach, and tried to breath. Looking up at Ichigo he barely saw Ichigo's other fist slam into his face and mercifully knock him into unconsciousness.

Ichigo looked down at the knocked out rogue and massaged his wrists before quickly turning away. Making his way back up the rubble he could not help but think about just what kinds of people make up the Syndicate. That guy had to know Ichigo could kill him yet he was defiant until the end. His words though, they were what concerned Ichigo. The rogue's words had contained actual hatred when Ichigo had asked him about the prisoners.

Making his way back to the top of the rubble pile Ichigo looked around the interior of the keep more cautiously than the first time. He needed to be careful not to draw any more attention to himself than he already had. The Syndicate rogue lying unconscious on the grass behind him had only noticed Ichigo because he had let his guard down. Seeing no one in the immediate area Ichigo observed his surroundings.

Some distance in front of him was what could have once been a shed, its burnt and rotten walls offering little comfort or protection to anything that could be kept inside it but perfect for hiding behind and avoiding being spotted. He just needed to cross the tens of feet between the wall and the shed without being detected.

Ducking back down until his eyes could barely see over the wall, Ichigo looked at each member of the Syndicate that he could see. There were two directly in front of him talking to each other right near the curve in the hill, another one leaning on the wall in the distance with the nodding of his head an indication that he was sound asleep and finally one person patrolling the parapet to his immediate right, a longbow held firmly in his hands while his eyes scanned for anything that might be out of the ordinary.

_"I guess they aren't slacking when it comes down to it,"_ Ichigo ducked back down fully behind the wall. If he was going to do this he needed to get his timing down just right. Pulling himself back up he watched and waited until the bowman on the parapet had turned his back and the two men walked away before pulling himself inside the keep with one mighty effort. Sprinting forward, making sure to keep as close to the shadows as possible, he dove behind the shed just as the patrolling bowman turned back around.

Resting his head on the wall of the shed Ichigo thought, _"So far so good."_

While he was inside there was still a long way to go and chances are that eventually he would need to fight the Syndicate. Risking a glance over the side of the shed Ichigo was relieved to notice that he had escaped detection so far. While he was certain the rogue outside would be unconscious for at least an hour it was better to assume that he would wake up any minute. What was strange about the people he saw was that they were just aimlessly walking along, almost as if they had no purpose besides simply keeping a lookout for intruders like him.

The sound of something whistling through the air caused Ichigo to quickly duck back behind the shed, cursing as a lone arrow pierced through the space where his head had just been. Biting back another curse and telling himself that he was stupid to assume he was undetected, Ichigo risked a second quick glance out of cover and saw the Syndicate member on the parapet aiming a bow directly at him. Hiding as another arrow embedded itself in the wall, Ichigo knew any chance of sneaking through this place was gone. Already he could hear the sounds of people shouting getting closer and it wouldn't be long until he found himself in another fight. The bowman was the problem. Ichigo would have to split his attention between fighting and avoiding the arrows, and that was too much even for him. Wracking his brain for an idea Ichigo noticed several rocks on the ground. Picking one up and tossing it experimentally in the air a few times, he grinned as an idea came to him.

Leaping out from behind the shed, Ichigo heard the familiar whistling of an arrow flying through the air and quickly sidestepped, allowing the projectile to pass harmlessly by his shoulder. Taking a moment to realize how close the arrow came to hitting him, Ichigo quickly took aim and threw the rock at the bowman only for the Syndicate member to duck and barely avoid having the rock collide with his face.

"Damn it!" Ichigo cursed and rolled to the side as the bowman responded by intensifying the number of arrows he fired. As he continued to avoid the deadly projectiles by ducking back behind the shed, giving him a measure of protection for the time being, Ichigo's ears picked up several bells ringing throughout the keep. If that was what he thought it was then he only had a minute, maybe two, before rogues and warriors swarmed his location. While he was sure that he could take them without much trouble Ichigo wasn't sure how well he could do so without using deadly force. That was one thing he would refrain from doing for as long as he could.

As he heard several thuds reverberate through the walls of the shed from arrows constantly impacting against it, Ichigo realized he needed to take a risk. Stepping back out just as an arrow embedded in the junction between two walls of the shed, cracking the rotten planks from the impact force, Ichigo picked up a second rock and moved as if to throw it. The bowman, who had expected Ichigo to try hitting him again, instinctively ducked to avoid the dangerous projectile. When the telltale sound of a rock whistling through the air never arrived he slowly stood back up only for a rock to strike him in the side of the neck.

_"Got him!"_

Ichigo's jubilation at finally hitting the man quickly turned to horror as the bowman, clutching his throat where the rock hit him, stumbled backwards before loosing his footing and falling over the far side of the wall. What followed was a scream cut off shortly after beginning as his body hit the ground.

_"Did I just kill a man?"_

Ichigo stood frozen as he realized what he just did. When he had taken up Rukia's duty as the shinigami of Karakura Town he had known that slaying hollows was not killing them but allowing their corrupted spirit to be cleaned in order to move on to the Seireitei. The knowledge that no matter how he killed a hollow he wasn't actually killing anything allowed him to sleep easy at night but this was different. While he hadn't actually meant to kill the man, he had still done so, and would need to live with the consequences of his actions.

The sound of people approaching drew Ichigo out of his thoughts. Looking straight ahead he found himself confronted with six members of the Syndicate, all of which had weapons gripped tightly in their hands and murderous expressions on their faces. Ichigo instinctively reached for his zanpakuto before stopping his hand in midair when he noticed the various stances of the warriors and rogues in front of him. He might not have had a lot of time to practice but Ichigo could tell that these people absolutely sucked at combat.

"You'll pay for daring to go up against the Syndicate," one warrior shouted and brandished his sword in a manner that suggested he was trying to intimidate Ichigo. After all it was only one man versus the six of them. When Ichigo continued to stare neutrally at them the warrior growled in anger. He would show this upstart what happens to those that insult the Syndicate. Charging towards Ichigo he raised his shield in front of his body and swung his sword downwards.

Despite the turmoil raging in his mind, Ichigo's battle senses were as sharp as ever. As the warrior closed in Ichigo waited until the last second before stepping to the side and allowing the blade to pass harmlessly through the air.

_"I didn't mean to kill him,"_ Ichigo reassured himself as he stoically watched the blade pass by his eyes, _"From what I can tell these people aren't exactly innocent. If they are willing to capture people for no other reason that they believe themselves superior then who knows what else they have done? How many people have I saved by killing that man?"_

The warrior stumbled forward as his body was not expecting to meet no resistance during his attack. Spinning around, rage clouding his vision, he attacked Ichigo only for the shinigami to deftly dodge or avoid the amateurish slashes before stepping inside the warrior's guard and smashing his fist into his nose.

It was to Ichigo's advantage that the Syndicate did not take the time to formally train their members. Due to those in the leadership constantly jockeying for position and power using underhanded methods like poisons and assassinations it was to their benefit to not train those that had aspirations to overthrow them. Since most members of the modern Syndicate were bandits and ex-servants of the Perenolde household, the majority of their skills dealt with subterfuge and pick-pocketing instead of combat.

Ichigo watched the man stumble back, a trail of blood gushing out from between his fingers. From the copious amount it was obvious to Ichigo that his punch had broken the warrior's nose. Despite the injury the man glared at Ichigo with all the hate he could muster.

"I would give up," Ichigo offered stoically, "There's no way you can beat me with a broken nose."

"I'm going to kill you!"

In anger the man tossed his shield to the ground and ran at Ichigo, who felt sorry for what he was about to do. As the warrior's sword arced through the air Ichigo parried the strike with his forearm, sparks running along the mithril as the sword attempted to part the magical metal to no avail, before delivering a blow to the man's solar plexus with his elbow. As the warrior hunched over and gasped for breath Ichigo pivoted and hit the man with a haymaker strong enough to knock him out cold.

"You son of a bitch!" a woman screeched at Ichigo as she watched him make a mockery of her fellow criminal. She did not care for the warrior personally but any attack on a member of the Syndicate was an attack on the Syndicate itself and that would never stand. Drawing her daggers and twirling them around her hands she sprinted at Ichigo. She was much lighter on her feet than the warrior was and tried to reach Ichigo before he could react.

Ichigo watched her approach with narrowed eyes. Just from a glance at the way she held her daggers he realizing she was a better fighter than the man he had just hit. Knowing he couldn't just dodge around her attacks he quickly drew his zanpakuto and used it as an impromptu shield against each strike, one hand on the hint and his forearm propped against the blade itself.

"Why won't you die?" The rogue glared at Ichigo as every one of her blows and strikes was either blocked or dodged. How in the twisting nether could he be able to move such a large blade with such deftness and ease?

"Sorry," Ichigo apologized and twisted his zanpakuto, pinning one of her arms to the ground, "But I've got people depending on me to win. I can't afford to lose to the likes of you."

The rogue cursed at Ichigo just before a knee to her chin silenced her. The blow struck her with enough force to throw her backwards through the air and skidding along the ground for several feet. As the remaining members of the Syndicate watched with shock as two of their compatriots were effortlessly defeated Ichigo took a step forward. He was hoping they would take the hint that they were outclassed and run away but to his regret they stood their ground despite the fear in their eyes. Sighing, he hefted his zanpakuto onto his shoulder.

Sheathing his zanpakuto and stretching his shoulders Ichigo saw Syndicate reinforcements arriving and groaned, "This is going to take a few minutes."

* * *

...

* * *

Consciousness returned to Maji with all the quickness that his troll regeneration afforded him.

His eyes opened up instantly and quickly took in his surroundings before he was forced to close them once again. Although most minor wounds healed in a matter of minutes, internal wounds tended to take a little longer. The injury he received when one of the humans bashed him in the head with a shield fell into the latter category. Shaking his head roughly in an attempt to clear the dizziness he was experiencing, Maji tried to move his arms but found them unresponsive. Looking down he saw that he was currently being restrained, a thick rope bound his wrists together before weaving around his arms and the wooden post behind his back.

Maji attempted to force his bonds apart several times before giving up. For the moment he was stuck here, _"I should have expected something like this to be happening…"_

It was just a few hours ago that Maji left the relative safety of Hammerfell to explore the Circle of West Binding alongside a few of his colleagues. While he may be a warrior that could deal death with a steel weapon as easily as it was to breath, in his heart Maji had a thirst for knowledge. Call him anything you wanted but Maji loved to learn as much as he could about various cultures. After losing so much of his own culture and history when Zalazane betrayed the Darkspear tribe, Maji developed a passion for the history of other cultures and the Circles of Binding across the highlands fascinated him to no end.

When he had expressed what he wanted to do, his friend Taruk had been more then willing to go along with him. Surprised at the answer from his usually dull friend, Maji had asked him about his sudden interest in history. Taruk had grunted and said he didn't care crap about history, he was only going with Maji to get a new weapon by slaying the various types of elementals at each of the circles.

As he walked out through the gates of Hammerfell, Maji had pointedly ignored the warnings from the guards about increased Syndicate activity in the region. This wasn't his first foray through the Arathi Highlands and he was certain he had enough experience fighting the Syndicate that he could survive anything the humans could throw at him. It was at the west circle, fighting the fire elementals patrolling the area, when the Syndicate ambushed them.

Maji had been locked in combat with two fire elementals when the first blows came, but it was Zulrea who was the first to fall. She had been sticking back near the edge of the circle, using her shamanism to heal their wounds and increase their resistance to the fire spells from the elementals when two arrows struck her back. While that normally wouldn't be enough to bring her down, the arrows were laced with a powerful sleeping agent. As he saw her body fall limply to the ground before being dragged away by two of the humans, Maji had attempted to go after her but found his path blocked by the Syndicate.

Taruk had been the next to fall, but the orc had made sure to take down as many members of the Syndicate as he could. Fighting with his old friend, Maji had cleaved his way through the horde of human bandits. He must have killed over a dozen humans but eventually his wounds caught up to him. As Maji fell to his knees, darkness already clouding his vision, one of the humans cockily approached him to take his sword away. The moment the human got within range, Maji slashed at the rogue, nearly severing the man's leg in the process. The last sounds he heard before the darkness finally took him were from the human screaming in pain.

Looking around the meager furnishings of the building Maji noted something of great importance was missing.

"They took all me stuff."

He would have found it laughably sad if the Syndicate had captured him but left him his armor and weapons. Still, it was an affront to his pride as a member of the Darkspear tribe as well as the Horde to let a human take his stuff. What really bothered him was that his equipment was very expensive. Nearly one hundred gold spent on new armor and a customized thorium weapon only to be ambushed two weeks after getting them. The spirits must be testing him because the irony of the situation was too great. If she knew what happened Zulrea would be laughing at him and saying she told him so. Speaking of Zulrea…

Maji saw that he wasn't alone. Taruk sat unconscious across from him, fresh wounds and injuries marring his green skin. The orc must have put up one hell of a fight because the Syndicate had decided to tie the rope all around his body instead of just his hands. Maji knew first hand that Taruk could have easily broken through his bonds given half a chance and the humans who captured them probably realized that too.

To his right was Zulrea. Maji was relieved to see that most of the wounds she sustained in the ambush were almost completely healed with only the gash on her forehead still leaking a small amount of blood. Yet that too was closing. Maji would give it a couple of hours before all that remained of the injury was just a small scar.

The person to his left was what drew the troll's curiosity. Maji was certain he had never seen this night elf before in his life but in the end it didn't matter. The Syndicate had captured them both and, knowing the racist and bigoted nature of the humans in it, their fates were not going to be pretty. If he was unable to escape from this place Maji only hoped the humans offered him a quick and painless death over years of torture and pain.

"I see you're awake."

The night elf looked at Maji out of his one good eye, "They captured me just outside of Refuge Pointe. Where did they get you?"

Maji scoffed, "I don't be seeing how it be any of your business elf."

"I suppose not," the night elf admitted. Leaning back against the makeshift headrest the supporting post offered him, he glanced to his left towards the entrance of the building. He could have sworn he heard shouting and a loud ringing coming from in the distance. His pointed ears weren't just for show after all. Casting his gaze back towards the troll, ignoring the unconscious orc across from him, he continued, "It seems to me that we're in a similar situation. These humans have captured us and I don't think we want to be here to find out why."

"You must be daft," Maji shook his head and spat on the ground, the familiar taste of salt in the saliva, "A night elf be offering to work wit a troll? I must be dead."

"I don't have a problem with you," the night elf, Aewendir, motioned with his head towards Taruk, "And as long as your companion doesn't fly into a blood rage at my presence I have no issue with working together to escape."

Maji knew the night elf was referred to the still unconscious Taruk, "I be seeing the benefits of such a temporary alliance but you best be staying your tongue. I might be able to keep me friend from attacking you for now but once we be free I won't be holding him back."

Aewendir nodded. His family line stretched all the way back to the War of the Shifting Sands where his uncle helped to keep the Qiraji from overwhelming the rest of Azeroth. He could swallow his displeasure at working with an orc for the moment if it meant getting out alive and in one piece.

"I'll be sure to remember that."

Maji opened his mouth to speak when a series of familiar snorts and grunts drew his attention. Beginning to regain consciousness, Taruk looked around groggily before realizing he was tied down.

"I'll kill those human bastards!" Taruk shouted and flexed his arms in an attempt to free himself but it appeared that even for him the bonds were too strong to escape. After several moments of fruitless struggling Taruk noticed Aewendir and said, "Elf! I'll mount your head on my mantle for doing this to me!"

"Oh sure," Aewendir sarcastically answered, not the least bit perturbed by the probable death threat, "I captured you and your friends and then, just for good measure, tied myself alongside you."

"Why you-"

"Calm down Taruk," Maji ordered his friend. Taruk always had a tendency to let his anger get the better of him sometimes. While he was normally quite friendly and easy to talk with, something about the Alliance, night elves and humans in particular, always brought out his anger, "This night elf not be the one who captured us. That honor goes to the humans who be part of the Syndicate. He be just as unlucky as we be."

Taruk snorted but held back from saying anything. As much as it annoyed him to admit, Maji always had a tendency to know exactly what to do to get out of dangerous and life threatening situations. He remembered one time almost two months ago where Maji's quick thinking saved his life. The two of them had been part of an expedition into Blackrock Depths. With Ragnaros banished back to wherever the bastard came from, everyone had moved in to claim some of the dwarven loot.

The group of adventurers they had joined had not numbered more than ten. The tauren in charge, Taruk had purposefully forgotten his name, had claimed that it was to keep the dark iron dwarves from sensing them but Taruk thought it was because the tauren was a cheap bastard. Everything had proceeded smoothly when they arrived. He killed some dwarves, looted their cooling bodies, and shared the gold he found.

Eventually they had reached the Grim Guzzler deep within Blackrock Mountain. At first the staggering number of dwarves put the party on edge but when no one attacked them they realized everyone was drunk off their ass. After fighting for hours through the underground city Taruk, for the first time in his life, had been willing to stand sitting next to a dwarf if it meant getting a pint of Dark Iron Ale. Unlike most of the party, Maji had remained cautious and on guard and tried to warn Tarukthat something was not quite right. In his state of mind he had ignored the warnings of his friend and headed towards the upper level of the bar to get some ale.

What happened next Taruk would never know.

When they had managed to escape from Blackrock, Taruk asked Maji what happened. The troll claimed an orc in the party had thrown a punch at a dwarf and things quickly escalated. Whatever the case may have been Taruk remembered being hit over the back of his head and then waking up outside the bar, Maji standing over him with an annoyed expression. When Taruk had demanded to know what happened, his friend claimed that he should have listened to his warning.

"Fine," he sourly said after a few seconds. As much as it annoyed him to even think about working alongside a night elf Taruk would put up with him if it meant escaping this place. He had heard rumors about Durnholde Keep and what happened to orcs here, "I'll listen to you for now but how much longer is your damn sister going to pretend to be unconscious?"

"I be trying to figure a way out of this place," Zulrea, Maji's fraternal twin sister said with annoyance. While Maji was normally cool and collective, never letting the situation get the better of him, Zulrea was more outgoing and assertive, "I hate to admit it but these humans be smart. They tied me hands and fingers so I can't be casting any spells."

"I might be able to get us out," Aewendir offered, "These humans don't know I'm a druid. I can shapeshift out of these ropes and then free the rest of you."

"That's awfully generous of you elf," Taruk said sarcastically, "What's to stop you from escaping and leaving us to die?"

Aewendir refused to answer Taruk as he closed his eyes and focused on the presence of the Emerald Dream that always sits just below the surface of his consciousness. As he tapped into that power his body began to glow with a light green light. A moment later his form shifted from that of a seven and a half foot night elf to a dark purple nightsaber with intricate markings on its fur and piercings in its ears. The ropes that had bound Aewendir could not accommodate for such an abrupt change in shape and slackened, allowing the druid to bite his way through his bonds. Once he had chewed his way to freedom Aewendir quickly shifted back to his normal form and carefully crept over to Maji.

"As much as I would have preferred leaving you three to whatever fate you deserve," he said as he began untying Maji's bounds, ignoring the growl that came from Taruk, "I realize my chances of getting out are slim without your help."

"You be speaking your mind elf," Zulrea quipped, "I didn't think you be having it in you."

"Don't count on the elf offering us much help," Taruk warned his partners. When Maji was freed and went over to help the orc, Taruk whispered in his ear, "The minute we turn our back that elf is going to leave us to die. I say we kill him now and be done with it."

"Patience Taruk," Maji struggled with loosening the knot on the ropes for a moment before it finally began slipping, "I be understanding you point of view but this night elf not be a liar. Zulrea wouldn't be talking to him if he be untrustworthy. Give him a chance and if he be acting strange den you be knowing what to do."

Taruk growled but kept his mouth shut. He would keep a close eye on the elf so that the minute he tried anything funny Taruk would be there to stop it.

After freeing Zulrea, who thanked him by butting shoulders with him, Aewendir used his magic to heal the minor wounds the trolls still had despite their regeneration. Taruk's wounds were much more difficult to heal not because they were more severe but because the orc felt that it was wrong for a night elf to help an orc. It was only after Maji's insistence that he 'shut up and let the elf work' that Taruk allowed himself to be healed.

"You guys best be seeing this…"

The confusion permeating Zulrea's voice quickly brought a halt to any further conversations as the three men headed towards the exit to the building. The members of the Syndicate who had captured them had been so arrogant in their skills that they hadn't felt the need to post a guard inside the building or even lock the door but that was not what was surprising about what they saw. What caused all four of them to simply stand there and stare was that the rogues and warriors, the same members of the Syndicate that they had heard outside not five minutes ago, had vanished as if they disappeared directly into the Twisting Nether.

"I don't like this," Taruk cautiously stepped outside. Looking around and seeing no signs of any humans he closed his eyes and sniffed the air. An orc's nose was more sensitive then a human so Taruk was able to get a grasp on what was going on.

"There's blood in the air," he said after a moment, "Not a whole lot but it seems someone arrived that these humans weren't expecting."

"Yes. I be hearing it," Maji knelt close to the ground and concentrated. He could hear several people fighting in the distance and slowly but surely the sounds were getting closer, "Whoever it be has me thanks. They be drawing de humans' attention away from us."

"Damn," Taruk cursed and pushed past Maji. The sooner he left this place the better, "I was looking forward to killing some humans."

"Hold on a second," while Maji and Taruk had began to walk away from the barrack Aewendir had decided to stay back. Something about this was bugging him, "Suppose you are right and the Syndicate is fighting against someone, what is to stop them from coming back and capturing us? We don't have any weapons."

"Humph," Taruk grunted but he was amused by the night elf's question, "An orc doesn't need a weapon to kill humans. Now enough talking."

As the group passed underneath the bridge that led from the ruins of the old keep into the forests of Hillsbrad they saw a human walking away from the ramp leading to the old orc barracks. He had strange orange hair and wore grey and white armor with a zweihander strapped along his back. Behind him lay a trail of unconscious bodies of members of the Syndicate. When the human noticed them he raised a hand in an awkwardly friendly greeting.

"Hey."

* * *

...

* * *

Sylvanas stood silently in the archways above the Undercity, the shadows serving to cloak her already darkened form to the point where the slight disruption in the wind that blew through was the only indication that someone was there. As much as she would have liked to do this in the comfort of her royal chambers, the sensitivity of the information required a bit more discretion than normal. She knew her royal deathguards were loyal beyond reproach, the problem was Varimathras. As much as she thought she had a firm grasp on his leash, there remained a sizable part of Sylvanas's mind that did not trust the nathrezim. Perhaps it was due to her earlier experiences with dread lords but the ease at which Varimathras betrayed his brethren struck a nerve that had yet to go away.

A slight rustling drew the Dark Lady's attention. With a cold smirk adorning her face she said, "Just on time as always. Your skills with the shadows has improved since the last time I required your services."

The figure kneeling behind Sylvanas did not move, "You called for me my lady?"

With a satisfied smile Sylvanas turned around and gazed upon the prostrating figure. She was one of the last remaining high elf rangers that had remained loyal to the Ranger-General throughout both her life as well as her undeath. What made this ranger perhaps the keystone in Sylvanas's upcoming plan was the fact that she was still alive.

"Yes I did…Silana."

If it were not for the dark black and red leather attire that she wore, Silana would fit in amongst her fellow high elves. With pale white skin and eyes that glowed a faint blue, she looked just like her brethren that had managed to overcome the sickness that the Sunwell's destruction gave.

"What is it that you require of me?"

Silana looked up from her kneeling position into the red eyes of the woman who had once been the Ranger-General of Quel'thalas. Unlike her fellow rangers, whom had abandoned Lady Sylvanas the moment it was confirmed she had come back from the dead in her mortal body with her free will restored, Silana had continued to stay loyal. When her brethren decided to sequester themselves in the ruined remains of their homeland and wallow in their misery after the Scourge destroyed the Sunwell, Silana had decided that was enough and forswore both her family name and heritage. Following the road out of Quel'thalas through the Plaguelands, she traveled until she reached what would eventually become the Undercity. To say that Sylvanas had been surprised to see Silana would be an understatement.

During the undead assault on Quel'thalas, Silana had been one of the few rangers able to break through the undead lines to relay messages between the besieged rangers and Silvermoon City. If it were not for this singular ability to bring desperately needed reinforcements, the elfgates barring the Scourge's path would have fallen much more quickly. While Sylvanas knew of Silana during this time, it was only during the battle surrounding the second elfgate that she finally met the ranger personally.

Arthas had just used the Key of the Three Moons to blast open the second elfgate and Sylvanas was prepared to retreat once again when Silana brought nearly three dozen rangers to the front lines using her skills to help them evade the undead on the way. While the power Arthas and his undead wielded was mind boggling, they were not prepared for the new elven onslaught and were forced to retreat for the first time since invading Quel'thalas. That was when Silana first met Sylvanas.

Promising to make the Ranger-General pay for her constant defiance, Arthas had managed to pin Sylvanas down and was about to stab her through with frostmourne when Silana arrived. Knowing what was about to happen she let loose several arrows at the death knight. While it was enough of a distraction to give Sylvanas the chance to escape it wasn't enough to stop or even harm Arthas. The death knight had avoided each attack using frostmourne and quickly ordered his undead to kill her. As Silana took down the undead assaulting her she quickly realized it had all been a distraction when she witnessed Arthas kill Sylvanas before fleeing with her body. She had attempted to chase after him but her wounds had finally caught up to her, forcing the ranger watch the death knight take the Ranger-General's body away in order to desecrate it.

"Rise Silana," Sylvanas ordered the high elf ranger. While she expected her forsaken to kneel before her, Sylvanas had a special place in what had once been her heart for Silana, "Servitude does not become of you. I have a special mission for you. One that you are specifically suited for."

Silana was perplexed but the only visible sign was a slightly raised eyebrow, "What do you mean?"

Sylvanas seemed perturbed as she answered, "There is a human male currently in Hillsbrad to the south. I have ample evidence to suggest he possesses a weapon similar to the one Arthas wields."

"Do you want me to kill him?" Silana knew how her lady's heart and soul were filled with hatred for the former human prince. To find someone like this must have been a harsh reminder of her current state.

"No," Sylvanas answered to Silana's surprise, "At least not yet. Head to Hillsbrad and track his movements. Unlike that _prince_ this human had decided to keep a low profile. Follow his movements and find out what he is up to. I need to know what his goals are. This will be a strictly covert mission. You are not to attack him unless you are completely and absolutely sure you can kill him. If you are able to do so, bring his head back to me and as for his weapon…destroy it."

"Surely this is something you can ask of your dark rangers."

It was no secret, at least to Silana, that the dark rangers despised her status in the Undercity. Unlike the rest of them, she had managed to retain both the loyalty of the Dark Lady as well as her living body despite everything that happened. They would never dare to act against her both within and outside of the Undercity but that did little to prevent rumors circulating that Silana was secretly a spy for the Alliance or a traitor to her people. As much as she tried to find out who started those rumors Silana had yet to find them.

"Unfortunately…" Sylvanas frowned slightly at the reminder that her dark rangers were inadequate for the mission. While Silana was more than qualified to do this mission there were perhaps one or two dark rangers that could match her skill-wise. If and when Varimathras decided to betray the forsaken, Sylvanas would need all the help she could get to take the treacherous dread lord down, "This man might have an ability that could negate most powers my dark rangers possess. Since your heart still beats within your chest you should have no trouble tracking him down without being detected."

"As you wish," Silana bowed once more, "Tell me what this man looks like."

Sylvanas smiled as she began describing the man to Silana. She loved it when a plan came together.

* * *

...

* * *

"Hey."

Ichigo raised a hand in what he hoped was a friendly gesture. This place was so alien to him that he might as well take what he knew as friendly and inviting and throw it out the window. As the four people stared at him, he hoped he hadn't accidentally insulted them. The last thing he needed was to make enemies right off the bat.

The Syndicate had been absolutely brutal ever since his cover had been blown. What had started out as a fight against a couple of rogues and warriors soon devolved into a free-for-all with Ichigo pitted against more than a dozen people, all of which wanted him dead. That's not to say the fight was hard or difficult for Ichigo, their skills simply couldn't compare to his own. After fighting ten people it quickly became very annoying and repetitive.

"Thank Cenarius," Aewendir muttered upon seeing Ichigo. Truth be told, while he didn't have any personal issues with working and fighting alongside the Horde if it meant escaping Durnholde Keep he would rather prefer another member of the Alliance. Stepping forward he noticed that Ichigo was alone and much younger than he was used to. Age, however, didn't matter to a night elf. For a species that had until a couple of decades ago been immortal in most senses of the word age meant little compared to maturity and skill. If the orange-haired human in front of him had the ability to fight than Aewendir had no issues.

"How did you know we be here?" Maji cautiously asked.

"I saw you four being taken along the road," Ichigo glanced around from person to person. When he had been in Southshore he hadn't seen anyone other than humans and even the forsaken were simply undead humans. To be in the presence of two trolls, an orc and a night elf was quite the alien experience to the shinigami, "I waited until I saw where they were taking you before deciding to come rescue you."

"If I may ask, where is the rest of your party?" Aewendir asked.

"Rescue party?" Ichigo blinked twice in confusion before it hit him. Why hadn't he gone back to Southshore for help when he saw the prisoners? He was certain Marcus could have offered a couple of men willing to help him rescue the Syndicate's captives. Although, he realized with a slight frown, he could seem some animosity brewing between the four prisoners he came to rescue. They weren't saying anything but he had seen looks like that before from rival gangs who tried to team up to kick his ass. Both gangs had hated each other, but through no fault of his own they hated him much, much more. He would need to be careful with what he said.

"There's no one else besides me," he answered and motioned over his shoulder towards the unconscious Syndicate members, "These people aren't so tough. I managed to disable each and every one that tried to fight me without drawing my blade."

"I can see that human," Taruk sarcastically said but, to the surprise of his colleagues, did not press the issue. This human had come all this way to rescue them and being rude would show he had no pride as an orc. He may be a member of the Horde but he was an orc first and he remembered the old ways and traditions from the stories his father used to tell of Draenor before the demons came. Walking up to Ichigo, using his impressive size and slight height advantage as intimidation, he asked, "What do you plan to do now that the humans know you're here?"

"Well…" Ichigo scratched the back of his head in embarrassment. He really hadn't thought his plan through as thoroughly as he initially thought. His entire mind had been focused on getting into Durnholde Keep to rescue the prisoners. He had no clue how he would escape once he got that far. Staring back at Taruk, who was much less intimidating than Chad ever was, he said, "These guys aren't so tough so I was thinking of simply fighting my way out."

Taruk glared at Ichigo before giving a slight smirk, "I like the way you talk human."

"Alright listen up!" Taruk turned away from Ichigo and towards his fellow members of the Horde, "We're getting out of here even if that means killing every human, except this one, who gets in our way. Gather what weapons you can. Elf, if you decide you want to live you'll follow my lead and pull your own weight. The last thing I'm not going to do is come back and save your ass when you fall behind."

Aewendir narrowed his eyes at the subtle threat; "I'll be sure to keep that in mind."

While that was going on Maji walked towards one of the unconscious Syndicate warriors that Ichigo had left in his wake. After quickly removing the man's weapon and shield, the troll knelt down next to the human. Slapping the man until he regained consciousness, Majji waited until the man realized what was happening before thrusting his blade between the warrior's ribs and into his heart.

As the human uttered his dying breath, Maji bent down and whispered, "That be payback."

Standing up to his full height Maji turned around and was confronted with Zulrea. His sister took one look and spit on the corpse, "Good riddance to de trash. There be a small problem Maji."

Maji looked at Zulrea and nodded. Shifting his eyes towards Ichigo, who was busy talking to Aewendir as the night elf healed his own injuries, he whispered, "I be seeing what you mean."

"This be too much of a coincidence," Zulrea answered.

Maji could see where his sister was coming from. For this human to just appear out of nowhere, not even an hour after being dragged into the keep, was highly suspicious and reeked of a trap, but Maji could not help but go along with the human. If it was a trap, and his eyes were scanning the human's expressions for any sign of subterfuge, it wasn't a very good one. Taking down dozens of warriors and rogues that could have helped him subdue them was highly unorthodox for a false escape plan.

"Consult de spirits," he told Zulrea, "See what they be thinking."

"I can't," Zulrea responded angrily, "This place be tainted. Something happened here in de past that scares de spirits away."

Maji had heard of what Warchief Thrall had done to Durnholde Keep during the Third War. It made sense that the spirits would choose to abandon this place after all that happened here.

While Maji and Zulrea were busy talking, some distance away Taruk was going through the various weapons he had taken from the humans of the Syndicate, a great deal of annoyance visible on his face. For years he had used a large battleaxe as his weapon of choice and yet all he could scrounge up from these pathetic humans were some daggers and swords. Where was the variety? Growling he decided to take two swords in each hand. If he couldn't have a battleaxe he would settle for the next best thing. Killing twice as many humans on his way out would be somewhat of a consolation prize.

Close to where Taruk was sifting through the pile of confiscated weapons Aewendir was sitting on a bench with a hand bathed in green mana held in front of his eye. This was the first time since regaining consciousness that he was allowed to heal. Being a druid afforded him a slight increase in the speed his body recovered but it was nowhere near the rate trolls naturally healed. Beginning to regain his sight in his injured eye, he glanced at Ichigo, "Where do you come from?"

"Southshore," Ichigo responded curtly.

"I see," Southshore was the closest human settlement to the keep so it made sense that Ichigo had come from there, "What brings you all the way out here?"

Ichigo hesitated a moment before answering. To Aewendir is looked as if Ichigo was simply lost in thought but the shinigami was actually trying to remember everything Marcus had told him, "I was planning to travel to Stormwind but whatever the forsaken did to the gryphons forced me to walk."

"That is unfortunate news. I am Aewendir, a druid of the Cenarion Circle. I was traveling through the Arathi Highlands, offering my healing services to the tired and exhausted Stromgarde soldiers, when the Syndicate captured me," Aewendir responded in kind.

Ichigo listened to Aewendir's explanation with rapt attention. He had never heard a druid before and he was sure it was nothing like the druids from his world. Folding his arms and deep in thought he asked, "I've never seen a druid before."

"That's not actually surprising," Aewendir pursed his lips as he recalled the ending days of the Third War and what the Burning Legion had taken away from them. Although, if he was completely honest with himself, the night elves lost very little compared to what the humans lost. Losing immortality was one thing but to have most of your people killed and then raised back to life to fight you was something else entirely. Aewendir didn't know the actual numbers, but roughly half of all humans fell to the Scourge during the war.

"Since the Third War, we have kept ourselves in seclusion ever since Malfurion went back into the long sleep," the druid answered after dragging himself out of his thoughts. One of the most annoying things about immortality was that you remembered every single thing that happened to you throughout your entire existence, "We work to help the forests and wildlife of Azeroth fight back after what the Scourge and Burning Legion did but sometimes that just isn't enough."

"Burning Legion?"

Aewendir was caught slightly off guard by the emotion in Ichigo's question but nevertheless answered, "You seem just a bit too young to have witnessed the terrible acts of the war. The Burning Legion threw everything they had under their leader, Archimonde. Still, we fought back and managed to kill the demon lord but only at a great price."

"That is enough talking," Taruk butted in. In each of his hands was a sword gripped firmly enough to turn his green knuckles white. The orc focused his glare first on Aewendir before turning to Ichigo, "We have stalled long enough. Every minute we waste talking is another minute we give these cowardly humans the chance to fight back. Is the path out cleared human?"

Ichigo was really starting to not like being called human every time Taruk addressed him, "I don't know. The front entrance of the keep was full of guards so I managed to sneak in through a hole in the rear wall. If we move quickly we can leave this place before the Syndicate can trap us."

Something about what Ichigo said seemed to set off a nerve in Taruk's head. Without warning the orc stalked up to him and gripped the spacing between his chest plate and neck, "A true orc does not sneak around like a common thief!"

"To be honest, I don't care what you think," Ichigo answered without backing down. Grabbing Taruk's wrist, he applied pressure until the orc was forced to let go in pain. If Taruk was going to be a jackass about this then Ichigo would simply need to respond in kind, "Unless you want to die fighting dozens of people just to walk out the front door you will follow me."

For a moment it appeared that Taruk was going to attack Ichigo for talking back to him but he eventually backed off, "Spoken just like an orc. You're made of sterner stuff than most humans…and their allies."

It was clear that last part was directed towards Aewendir, "But I stand firm human. We will not sneak out like cowards and weaklings. If we are going to escape this place we will do so in a grand and merciless manner. I will cause these humans to fear the day they decided to take me as a prisoner. The ground will run red with their blood by the time I'm done with them!"

Ichigo shook his head to remove the oncoming headache. As he watched Taruk stomp away towards Maji and Zulrea he rubbed his eyes. There was a strange feeling in the pit of his stomach that they were going to get themselves killed if he didn't stick around to help.

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"This is unacceptable!"

Eston, once a stable hand to Aiden Perenolde and now chief jailer and overseer of Durnholde Keep, looked at the dead corpse of the latest rogue to have made the error of delivering bad news. Those under him knew they should never talk to him unless it concerned matters of utmost importance and the news that he had just received, while dire and important, was not something he wanted to hear. Calmly stepping over the body, a long jagged cut in the rogue's throat the only indication of how he died, Eston stepped onto the ruined walls of the upper keep and looked over Durnholde Keep.

He could see the person that had been causing him trouble all afternoon. Narrowing his eyes in the afternoon sun, he was barely able to make out a spot of orange and grey in the lower levels of the keep near the barracks. So this was a jailbreak was it? No matter the cost Eston would not allow any of the subhumans he had his men capture escape this place. His superiors had put him in charge of this ruined keep alongside Marlgen and he was not going to simply let things proceed the way they were any more.

"This intruder has become a nuisance."

Eston didn't turn or acknowledge Marlgen's presence but simply responded, "He is good, very good. Whoever this man is, he managed to find a hole in our defenses before proceeding to cut a swath through our rogues and warriors. If Vardus wasn't such a cheap bastard we could have hired some mages. They would have made quick work of this man."

"That may be…" Marlgen curiously looked at the corpse of the rogue on the floor. It was apparent to him that Eston had received the news just recently, if the still leaking blood was any indication, "We need to nip this in the bud right here and now. The intruder has just met up with the prisoners."

"That ought to be an interesting sight to behold," Eston coldly smirked. There was no way that any of the Horde or Alliance barbarians his men had captured would dare to work together.

"I would reconsider your opinion," Marlgen subtly moved a hand towards his dagger. Eston's short temper was not just limited to messengers. If he could get away with killing him and becoming the one and only overseer of Durnholde Keep then Eston would do it in a heartbeat.

Eston's eyes lingered towards Marlgen, narrowing slightly when they saw his fellow rogue's hand on the grip of a dagger, "What are you talking about?"

"I was able to discover that this person is either a warrior or paladin, if my judgment on his armor is correct," Marlgen's voice was level but it carried a hint of anger. It was not towards the intruder, although he was quite displeased at the moment, but at his fellow overseer. Eston always had the tendency to vent any anger he had on his underlings, no matter how severe they were. Unlike Eston, who joined with the Syndicate when his lord ordered him, Marlgen joined as a way to get rich quick while putting the orcs back into their place in society – under the feet of humans and the Alliance.

"He systematically managed to fight his way through what troops were in his way without taking a single injury."

Eston pursed his lips. It would seem they were up against a formidable adversary, "Causalities?"

"Only one of our men has been killed, the rest the intruder simply beat into unconsciousness."

Now that was surprising news to Eston. He could not think of a reason this intruder would not kill his men. While he would prefer them alive and well, if only to do the jobs and tasks he required of them, not killing them implied a level of conceit and arrogance. Did he not kill them as a way of showing that he did not need to in order to get what he wanted or was it because he felt that kill them was beneath him? As much as his daggers begged for the intruder's blood and his ears ached for his screams of torture, Eston could not simply jump into the fray this time. He was staring a powerful adversary directly in the eyes and he could not, would not, be the first one to blink.

"You always preach about making plans for situations like this. What do you suggest we do?" Eston sarcastically asked Marlgen, as if to remind his fellow rogue of what he actually thought of him. Marlgen simply took the insult in stride without so much as a grunt of anger.

"Yes I have," he answered neutrally, "This man is currently meeting up with the four prisoners as we speak and, in all likelihood, he will be able to drag them together into a formidable force, despite being from different races. If they managed to recover any weapons the odds of successfully stopping them from leaving the keep drop drastically. I recommend rallying our forces around the front gate while setting up a smaller force near the spot the intruder managed to sneak in."

Eston liked that idea very much. When this was all over and the prisoners and intruder were captured and tortured he would claim to Perenolde that he came up with the idea personally and Marlgen simply lied to take credit. Perhaps Marlgen would not even live to tell about it. Who knows what the intruder would do before he left the keep? Smiling at Marlgen, who suddenly found himself on edge at his compatriot's abrupt change in behavior, he said, "Get the men into positions and await my signal on when to proceed. There is no need to be discrete."

Marlgen nodded and turned to leave. It was clear to the rogue that Eston was trying to play this off as part of his own plan but something bothered Marlgen to the point where he never fully turned his back on his fellow overseer. Eston usually played things close to the vest when he did not let his anger get the better of him, but now he was not only listening to his advice but allowing him to direct the positions of their men? There was only one reason Eston would allow Marlgen to do this – he was planning to kill him when it was all over.

He should have expected something like this to happen eventually, if not sooner. Marlgen had done the same thing to the previous overseer of Durnholde Keep but instead of stabbing the former jailer in the back he had procured an odorless and tasteless poison that he had fed to the foolishly trusting overseer. One meal, and one dead overseer later, Marlgen was promoted to overseer of Durnholde along with a larger percentage of any loot the men under his control acquired.

_"Attempting to kill me already Eston?"_ Marlgen's mind was already racing to come up with a counter plan. He was lucky that Eston, while a good rogue, was not the sharpest mind, _"You think you are so smart but luckily I have just the plan to take you out."_


	5. Chapter 5: Clash on the Ramparts

_I present to you Chapter 5 of **Rise of the True Death God**. The story is really starting to pick up and I appreciate each and every review, alert, and/or favorite that this story receives. This chapter wraps up the small Hillsbrad Arc and leads off to the rest of the story. I initially planned for Ichigo to be done in Durnholde Keep in Chapter 4 but as I wrote the chapter I realized I was rushing the story. _

_I try to keep Ichigo to his canon personality as much as possible but I also realize that the more time he spends on Azeroth, which is nothing like Earth or Karakura Town, the more his personality will shift to help him acclimate. That does not mean he will become an entirely different person. What it does mean is that Ichigo will start to see things in a new light and adjust how he acts and responds to certain things. Down the road he might realize killing someone is the right thing to do but for now that is not an option to him._

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**Rise of the True Death God: Chapter 5**

"For the Horde!"

Taruk swung downwards, cleaving another human nearly in two. He was having the time of his life taking his revenge on the humans who dared to think they could enslave an orc. Warchief Thrall may be a pacifist who preferred to talk with the Alliance rather than fight them but Taruk had to respect him for freeing all the orcs from the thumb of the humans as well as removing the taint of the Burning Legion from their veins.

"Come on!" he taunted the humans standing between him and freedom and charged forward with his swords held out in front of his body. One brave and foolish warrior tried to halt his charge with his shield but Taruk quickly and easily battered the targe aside before stabbing the human through the stomach with a blade. As red blood dripped out of the fatal wound and down his sword, Taruk kicked the man off his weapon and watched as the body tumbled down the hill towards the barracks below with a sickening crunch.

"Die you filthy beast!"

It was almost poetic, Taruk thought with glee as he maneuvered the sword in his off hand to block what should have been a surprise attack, that he was slaughtering these humans with their own weapons. Grinning viciously at the human who had dared to insult him so vulgarly, Taruk grabbed the man's wrist and pulled him closer until he was nearly face to face with the Syndicate warrior.

"What was that you said human? I didn't quite catch it."

The warrior tried to free his arm from the orc's grip and broke out in a cold sweat when Taruk's strength proved too great to free himself from, "I-"

He did not have time to finish whatever excuse he was about to say before Taruk stabbed his sword into the man's chest with such force that it completely bypassed the armor he was wearing and went straight through his body as if his flesh and blood were nothing more than paper. Dropping the man, and his now ruined weapon, onto the ground, Taruk looked disdainfully at the warrior before casually reaching down and taking the man's weapon as a replacement for his own.

Taruk took a deep and ragged breath as he felt the blood rage threatening to well up and send him into an uncontrollable frenzy. As much as he would have preferred to go wild and slice his way through every human in this accursed keep, Taruk knew he needed to keep somewhat of a level head. The last time he had let himself fall into the blood rage he nearly turned on his colleagues. That was not something he wanted to repeat a second time.

As he took a step closer to the exit, Taruk felt a dagger make its way into the spacing between his shoulder blades. Grunting from the pain he spun around, his arm already extending out, and grabbed the perpetrator in a death grip. Staring into the eyes of the rogue that had dared to attack his back, Taruk didn't say anything as he brought his blade up and sliced the unfortunate man's throat nearly in half.

"Don't tell me that's all you got!" he roared as a challenge to his remaining opposition. The dagger hadn't penetrated deeply enough to be a threat to the orc's life. Orcs were a notoriously tough and hardy people. It came from the harsh environment that Draenor had been before the demons arrived.

Taruk grinned when one human, another warrior but the looks of it, rushed towards him. Charging forward to meet the human, Taruk easily crushed the man's meager defenses before slicing him from the shoulder to the waist but before he could revel in his victory, something hard slammed into the back of his head. Another human had used Taruk's focused attention as a distraction and had snuck up behind the orc before bashing his shield into the side of his head. As blackness crept in and out of his vision, Taruk saw the human's sword approach his head and cursed himself for letting his guard down.

The blow he expected to end his life never came, however, as a sword, stained with the red blood, erupted out of the warrior's chest.

"You should be more careful," Maji admonished his friend, who was more embarrassed than injured. Finishing the human off with a quick slash to the throat he continued, "I rather not carry your body out of this place."

Taruk watched Maji walk past him and muttered under his breath as he got back onto his feet. He hated it when Maji pointed out the obvious, "Smart ass."

Some distance behind the two warriors a different battle was playing out. Unlike Taruk and Maji, who preferred to run straight at their enemies without knowing just how many people they were going to fight, Zulrea did not need to see with her eyes to understand how many opponents she was facing. While the extrasensory perceptions granted to her from the spirits were dulled in Durnholde Keep, she was still able to fight almost to her full capacity.

Stomping her foot down and sending a burst of mana through the ground, she summoned two of her totems into the physical plane that was Azeroth. While she could have summoned totems from all four schools, Zulrea knew that doing such a thing would be testament to spitting on the spirits. Most of the new generation of shamans believed that summoning as many totems as you could during each fight was the right thing to do but in actuality it was the complete opposite. The spirits of fire, earth, air and water gave their powers to the totems in order for shamans to effectively fight so each time a totem was summoned a small part of their power was taken. This process of taking power is completely voluntary. If the spirit deems the shaman unworthy of wielding their power, they will refrain from giving them as much of their power as possible. While the spirits could not stop all their power from being taken, they could prevent enough that comparing totems between a respectful and cocky shaman was like comparing burning embers to lava.

Two fully powered totems appeared on the physical plane accompanied by twin trails of smoke. Zulrea had used these two totems many times in the past when she had been travelling alone and without her brother. While she considered herself a competent shaman she instinctively knew she was not infallible. The Searing Totem would take care of any blind spots she may acquire in the course of battle by targeting everyone she considered an enemy while her Healing Stream Totem takes care of any minor damage she may accumulate. When the Syndicate captured her, she had been blindsided and knocked out before she knew what had happened and with her loss of consciousness, her totems disappeared back to the elemental plane.

Wading into the thick of battle, Zulrea quick found herself surrounded by at least ten humans. There were possibly more than that. Human rogues tended to be cowards and hide back out of the range of her totems until they thought they had an opening or advantage. Luckily for her, and bad news for them, totems could see right through a rogue's cloak without any trouble. While mortal eyes may be struck quite easily by the illusion, an elemental relied on senses unknown to mortals.

"Ten against one…" Zulrea's sharp green eyes glanced around from rogue to warrior. The humans were standing back out of the range of her Searing Totem, which meant that unless she moved closer to them and summoned it to the new location it would be completely useless but that was the point. The moment she left the protective aura her totems provided, Zulrea would be exposed to the hidden rogues, leading to a probably painful ending. She didn't get where she was by being stupid.

"You humans tink you be smart," Zulrea flexed her fingers as a familiar crackle of electricity began arcing between the phalanges. Several pairs of Syndicate eyes widened in realization at what Zulrea was going to do but it was too little, too late to do anything.

"Die," Zulrea said calmly as the bolt of lightning shot out from the tip of her index and pointer fingers towards the closest warrior. The thousands of volts of electricity sparked across his cheap iron armor and his skin, causing his muscles to convulse and his heart to quick stop as the lightning interfered with its ability the contract. Even as the warrior was dying a painful death, the lightning had bounced off his body and towards the nearest targets. It wasn't until three more warriors and rogues died that the members of the Syndicate wised up and spread out.

"Clever," Zulrea muttered as she counted the number of humans remaining. There should have been six left but she could only count four. Unless she had counted wrong initially, there were two people missing. Either they had deemed to hide until they could counterattack or they fled.

"But I wonder," she continued speaking as the lightning in her right hand vanished. Focusing on her other hand, Zulrea concentrated as the veins in her hand and wrist began to glow with a deep red and orange glow. As she felt the familiar power of fire course through her limb, she clenched her left fist as it was engulfed in yellow orange flames, "If you are clever enough."

Flame Shock was always one of her preferred spells. Unlike mages and warlocks who had to channel mana for several seconds for a spell to be cast only for the spell to fly through the air and potentially miss, Flame Shock took no time to cast and instantly hit the target. It was perfect for when Zulrea found herself in combat with someone or something that liked to hide behind cover or vanish. In such cases she would need just one look to hit them with a Flame Shock.

"Burn," she stated without emotion. Snapping her fingers several times, one for each human she could see, she watched as every Syndicate member was hit by a simultaneous explosion of fire. Ignoring the screams of pain and death, Zulrea didn't let her guard down. She may have killed every human she could see but there were still several she couldn't see. She needed to wait and patience was something she had in abundance.

Aewendir winced as pain radiated up his broken leg.

He had put on a brave face in front of the three members of the Horde but his pain threshold was rapidly approaching with every step he was forced to take. The humans who had captured him had been quite willing to make sure he couldn't simply run away once caught. Most night elves, both male and female, tend to have both high endurance and agility. If he could have thrown off his Syndicate pursuers, Aewendir would have been able to run nearly a dozen miles, in his natural body, with only slight exhaustion to show for it.

"Hey," Ichigo interrupted the druid's train of thought and brought Aewendir back to reality. The young shinigami had offered to assist him in leaving Durnholde Keep, which was a notion that Aewendir was more than willing to accept. Without Ichigo's assistance, he would have been left at the Syndicate's mercy, or lack thereof, "Why don't you just use magic to heal your leg?"

Aewendir shook his head, "I'll need some time to properly heal it."

It was a common misconception that healing magic, whether it is from a druid, priest, or even a shaman, can heal any wound short of death in a matter of seconds. While smaller and less severe wounds took only a couple of seconds to be healed, larger injuries took time and effort to heal. Attempting to heal a fractured or broken bone without first setting it or figuring out where the break was located was extraordinarily difficult, even for an experienced healer. Even High Priestess Tyrande, with her thousands of years experience as a priest, would hardly risk doing something like that.

"I want to thank you for your assistance Ichigo."

"Like I already told you," Ichigo readjusted his hold on the druid, "Quit saying crap like that. I rescued you because it was the right thing to do, not because I wanted anything out of it."

"Not many people would do something like that."

Ichigo frowned. They were getting closer to where Taruk and Maji had run off too and it seemed like the battle was starting to wind down, "What do you mean?"

"Most wouldn't bother risking their life to save the lives of four strangers unless the pay was very good or something else of value could be obtained," Aewendir paused for a moment to let that thought sink in, "You're not like most humans I've met."

"If someone's in trouble, regardless of who or what they are, I'll do everything in my power to save them," Ichigo wasn't someone to let what other people thought bother him. Just because something happened in the past doesn't mean he'll give a crap. This wasn't his world so their rules didn't apply.

"There's something that's been troubling me," Aewendir's tone shifted ever so slightly, "You said before that you rendered every member of the Syndicate that tried to fight you unconscious. Why didn't you simply kill them? Surely that would have been both easier and safer in the long run?"

"I could have done that easily," Ichigo's voice betrayed none of the emotions he had felt earlier when he accidently killed the bowman. As the path ahead began to steepen, Ichigo was forced to readjust his grip on the druid lest he trip and fall, "But just because I can doesn't mean I should. When you decide that killing everyone that you face is the best answer where does it stop?"

"Sometimes you need to take a life to save another," Aewendir closed his eyes as several ancient memories assaulted him.

"I'm not saying you're wrong but that's a bridge I'll cross when I come to it. We need to pick up the pace. I'm sure those three are clearing out the path ahead but I don't trust these Syndicate bastards to just lay down and take it."

Aewendir frowned as he gingerly stepped over a decapitated corpse lying haphazardly in the middle of the path. The wound itself was quick and precise but he could see that several other wounds, all non-lethal, littered the man's body. Whichever member of the Horde did this intended for the man to suffer before he died. He couldn't understand why the Horde had to be so violent. That is not to say that the Alliance doesn't commit its' own share of brutality and carnage. It just doesn't flaunt it as if it were honorable like the Horde tends to do, "What savagery. How any being that can do this evolved intelligence is beyond my understanding."

Stepping over the still warm body, Ichigo responded to the druid with a solemn expression, "Why do you hate them so much? I mean, they may be quite…brutal but they didn't kill you or leave you behind despite their obvious dislike for you."

"Such naivety," Aewendir shook his head at the innocent question, "That orc and his Horde allies may seem like decent people now but the moment you turn your back they will show their true colors."

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"You haven't seen the true face of the Horde like I have. You humans tend to have such short and brief lives. It's almost as if you're barely on Azeroth before dying. You come and go within the span of a single century while we linger on for millennia. While those of you that recall the first time the orcs invaded have begun to die, we still remember the orcs burning down our ancient and sacred forests, killing our defenseless families, and murdering Cenarius, Lord of the Forest. One good orc does not make up for years of pain and suffering. We can only begin to move on when every orc on Azeroth is dead and gone."

"What about the other two?" Ichigo asked after a moment of deep thinking. Aewendir seemed to have a strong dislike for the orc, Taruk Ichigo reminded himself, but hadn't really mentioned the others.

"While they have been decent so far, trolls are some of the most vicious creatures on Azeroth not because of strength or magic but their intelligence. While they have the ability to become druids and enter the Emerald Dream, they are a violent and cannibalistic people who will stop at nothing to kill anyone not in their tribes. Their alliance with the orcs is merely another sign that they are not to be trusted. Watch your back around them Ichigo. If you don't, you'll soon learn to regret it."

"Why don't you keep your thoughts to yourself?" while Aewendir had expressed gratitude and was pleasant to Ichigo, his attitude towards the other three captives was starting to grate on his nerves, "They seem alright to me so until they prove otherwise, I'm just going to go with that."

The druid began to say something back but stopped short when Ichigo stumbled a few steps.

"Why did you stop walking?"

"Something's wrong," Ichigo ignored Aewendir's query and tried to figure out what was bothering him. It took a few seconds but Ichigo realized that the sounds of battle, which up until that point had been slowly dying down, had abruptly stopped and given way to a deathly silence, "Do you think you can survive while I go check it out?"

"I don't need my leg to cast magic," Aewendir remarked and leaned against the nearby hillside for support. His leg may be broken but he could still fight a couple of humans if it came down to it. He was a druid but he was no coward. After quickly checking to make sure Aewendir was all right, Ichigo ran ahead towards where he had last heard Taruk and Maji fighting. If something really had gone wrong, he needed to get there quickly. Grasping the hilt of his zanpakuto with his right hand, he increased his pace to a sprint.

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Taruk felt oddly satisfied after all that had happened. Perhaps it was the fact that he was finally about to leave the place that reminded him of what his people went through before finally earning their freedom but most likely it was the trail of bodies littering the ground behind him. Letting a huff of satisfaction, he wiped the blood off his swords on a random corpse and turned towards Maji.

"Sixteen kills! Top that troll!" he boasted in accomplishment.

"Sixteen huh…" Maji knelt down, as the troll tended to do when relaxing, and looked back. His friend certainly didn't mince words when he said he would carve a path of corpses through the Syndicate. Still though, Maji wasn't overly impressed with the number of bodies. His foray into Blackrock Mountain left dozens of dwarves and their machines dead at his hands but Stratholme will always hold a special place in his heart. It is not everyday that one can kill almost a hundred beings and not feel guilty about it.

"That be mighty impressive," he said with a hint of amusement in his voice, "But not as impressive as my twenty."

"Twenty?" Taruk looked at his friend with a mixture of annoyance and amazement. That couldn't be right. He had made sure to be in the very front as they cleaved and slashed their way to freedom, "How in the twisting nether did you kill twenty humans?"

Maji chuckled, "You be so focused on what's in front of you that you missed what happened in de back. Some of de humans tried to ambush us. I took care of it."

Taruk growled in annoyance. One of these days he was going to outdo Maji, "I'll beat you next time."

"Sure you will," Maji said sarcastically and stood back up, "But do try to remember de last time you made a bet like dat…"

The orc shuddered as he recalled losing almost ten gold on an ill-conceived bet that he could kill more dwarves than Maji during a battle in the Alterac Valley. He did, after all, have a lot of experience fighting there while Maji had never been to the valley before. To this day Taruk did not know how his friend managed to rack up nearly twice as many kills as he did but he did not try to think too hard about it. Attempting to figure out Maji's supernatural ability to kill tended to give Taruk a migraine.

"I'll beat you eventually," Taruk conceded and rested a sword on his shoulder. As an orc he wasn't afraid of the steel blade biting into his exposed flesh. His skin was tougher than a human's by far. Sniffing as a weird scent drifted in the air, Taruk asked, "Where's your sister?"

"Zulrea?" Maji was momentarily taken aback by the question, "She be taking a different route to de exit. I be trusting my sister in a lot of things and if she be saying that de humans wanted to ambush us, I believe her. Are you worried about her safety?"

"What? No!" Taruk spoke a little too quickly, "She's a shaman. The minute a human can take down a shaman, whether they be troll or orc, is the day I lay down my sword and take up poetry!"

Maji let out a boisterous laugh at Taruk's denial, "We shouldn't be standing around in da open like this. It be far too dangerous."

"I agree," Taruk turned to the entrance to the keep but made no move to leave, "I'll give your sister five minutes before marching back and carrying her out."

"You beasts…are not going anywhere but back in your cages."

Taruk and Maji tensed as an unfamiliar, and human, voice sneered at them. Standing back across the bridge with a tattered orange facemask lying against his chest and a trail of blood leaking out of his mouth was Eston. What caused the two warriors to start to charge towards the rogue was the captive he held in his grasp. With one hand covering Zulrea's mouth and the other holding a rusty dagger against the shaman's stomach, Eston glared at them with an intense hatred that even put Taruk on edge.

"Don't take…one step further you filthy beasts…or your pretty little friend here dies."

Eston spit blood out of his mouth, uncaring that it happened to land on his captive. Even though he blindsided the bitch when she finally let her guard down after massacring all his men, she still managed to hit him. All of his plans to recover from this unexpected intrusion down the drain without capturing or killing a single one of these monsters. In the end he had been forced to do the dirty work himself.

In one quick motion Eston thrust the dagger into Zulrea. The shaman let out a strangled gasp of pain as the weapon pierced her blue skin and became lodged inside her body.

"Do you know how many men and women you five have cost me?" Eston's voice was laced with an insanity that had always existed within the human but is just now being brought to the surface. What could normally be kept in check through sheer violence and death was boiling and threatening to burst, "Over thirty warriors and rouges dead…are you beasts even capable of understanding how much it is going to cost to hire and enslave more men? Well, do you?! If you even think about taking a single step towards me…your friend here dies."

"I be thinking the blood loss be going to your head," Maji did not take his eyes off of Eston. While he was concerned for his sister, she had experienced injuries worse than a dagger in the side, "That small wound be of no threat to a troll. You'll be dead before you can even tink about removing dat dagger."

"Ah…" Eston's face contorted with insanity, "That would normally be true for you beasts but this is a very _special_ dagger. It contains reversed barbs cut on the blade so that when it slides in, it does extra damage coming out. I've coated these barbs with a very special poison blend, of my own creation. If you even try to attack me, I'll remove the dagger and the poison will hit her so quickly you won't have time to say goodbye before she's lying on the ground, convulsing in agony. I wonder how long she would last before the pain breaks her mind, or whatever mind a beast such as a troll possesses."

"Coward," Taruk spat and clenched his swords in his hands, "You can't even face death on your own human. If you kill her, there will be nothing to stop my blades from piercing your heart."

"A coward? You're calling me a coward?" Eston found the notion laughable and vehemently spit on the ground in front of Taruk, "What does an orc get off calling a human a coward? You probably don't even care that I have this troll's life in the palm of my hand, do you orc? I bet you are wondering whether killing her to get to me is worth it. Just looking at you is making me sick."

Taruk tried to take a step forward but found Maji's arm blocking his path. The troll's eyes were narrowed in a smoldering rage that threatened to explode out at any moment. He could not remember the last time someone had made him this angry, "You be tinking whatever you want but know this. If she dies, there be no one dat can save you from me wrath. De spirits are gonna be talking about what I do to ya for years ta come."

"You are going to die human," Taruk didn't bother trying to shove his way past his friend. He knew the rage Maji felt was many times greater than his own and it would be dishonorable to take away his vengeance. Brandishing his swords at Eston with as much emphasis as he could, he said, "I don't even care if I have to work with the Alliance but I will hunt you down and gut you!"

"Empty threats orc," Eston seethed back with an insane rage. This was not going the way he planned. He had a hostage and yet these creatures weren't cowering back, "The only place you are going is into a cage. You and these trolls are going to be put back in your place."

"You're wrong if you tink I be afraid of death," Zulrea had managed to work her mouth free from Eston's grip, "Your threats be meaningless."

Eston slapped Zulrea across the face, "Shut your mouth troll!"

"Go ahead Maji," Zulrea turned towards her brother. She could see the conflicted look in his eyes and knew that she needed to encourage him to do what had to be done. She wasn't about to give this human the satisfaction of taking her life.

"I said shut up!" Eston's hand that held the dagger inside Zulrea wavered as his final plan fell apart right in front of his eyes. Nothing had gone right since that man decided to become a one-man army and disrupt everything he had planned in Hillsbrad. Dozens of his men and women lay dead on the ground from the hands of that man and his allies. His plan to regain control of the keep screwed up by Marlgen's disappearance a few minutes after talking to him. If he was going to die, he was going to take this troll bitch down with him, "If I am going to die I'm taking her with me!"

As Eston made to pull out his dagger, Taruk and Maji ran back across the bridge in an attempt to stop him. They knew, and Eston's insane grin indicated it did as well, that they weren't going to make it but the sound of heavy footsteps rapidly approaching from behind the rogue drew Eston's attention away for just a moment.

"What?"

Eston barely had enough time to turn his head around to see who was trying to attack him before Ichigo skidded to a stop at his side and swung his zanpakuto upwards, severing the rogue's arm off near the shoulder.

"You bastard!" Eston screamed in rage and pain as he stumbled back, his remaining arm futilely attempting to stem the flow of blood from his arm.

"I got you," Ichigo ignored the rogue's scream and quickly put a hand on the hilt of the dagger to prevent it from jostling and coming loose as Zulrea collapsed to the ground. As Ichigo made sure the shaman was fine for the moment he felt, rather than heard, Taruk and Maji run towards Eston. Looking up he saw Maji pierce the rogue's throat with a sword while Taruk stabbed his weapons through Eston's heart and stomach.

"Zulrea…" Maji collapsed to one knee next to his sister.

"Don't worry," Ichigo informed the troll when Maji's eyes lingered on his hand holding the dagger in his sister, "I managed to overhear that bastard. As long as I hold it in place, the poison won't be released into her bloodstream."

Maji growled softly and looked from his sister to Ichigo and back again, "We gonna need a healer. Where be dat night elf?"

"I left him when I felt something had gone wrong."

Without missing a beat Taruk stalked past Ichigo and back into the keep, "I'll be right back."

The orc took less than a minute to find Aewendir, pick him up and carry him back to them. Dropping the druid onto his feet, uncaring for the wince of pain Aewendir felt as he did so, Taruk pointed to Zulrea and ordered, "Heal her now."

Aewendir nodded and knelt down next to Zulrea. Holding his hands over the wound, careful to avoid the dagger poised within, his palms began glowing with a deep emerald light. Ichigo watched the druid work with visible interest. He many not be the one being healed but he could feel the effects of Aewendir's spell throughout his hands. The soreness and stiffness that had accumulated throughout the day quickly left his fingers and joints.

After nearly half a minute of channeling mana, Aewendir stopped and let out a tired breath, "You are lucky the poison hasn't entered her bloodstream. Usually I would attempt to keep a poison a bay with Nature's Cure but without knowing the exact blend of ingredients or even the name of the poison her chances of survival drop drastically."

"How bad is it?" Maji asked.

Aewendir seemed reluctant to answer, "Right now she has about a one in ten chance of living. If I had time to research what poison was used the odds would be around one in three."

"You won't be able to cure it."

The group swiveled around at the new voice. Standing on the hill above them, with nearly a dozen rogues and warriors standing behind him, was Marlgen. The overseer of Durnholde Keep looked over them with a calculating eye before his gaze settled on the bloody form of Eston.

"What a pity," the rogue shook his head with false sorry, "And here I was ready to kill him myself."

"What do you mean he can't cure it?" Ichigo asked.

Marlgen focused on Ichigo, "So you must be the one that caused this mess. I would have thought you were older but as for your question…Eston may have been a psychotic bastard but he was clever bastard. The poison on the dagger embedded in your friend is a personal blend of his composed of a potent and highly toxic mixture of paralytic and wounding poisons. The poison will first paralyze your extremities but leave you able to breathe. That is only the first step. The poison will then attack the nerve endings starting from where it was administered. The pain is excruciating or so I've heard but you won't have the luxury of unconsciousness. No, you will be wide-awake and in agony the entire time but since your vocal cords are paralyzed you cannot scream. All you can do is lay on the ground in agony as the poison slowly kills you over the course of an hour. Of course, the constant pain will shatter you mind long before your body finally dies."

"You bastard!" Ichigo glared at the rogue, "What's the point of telling us this?"

Marlgen looked at Ichigo before snapping his fingers. A rogue walked forward on his left and handed the overseer a small leather pouch. After quickly looking inside, Marlgen tossed it towards the ground.

Catching the bag in midair, Maji looked at Marlgen with suspicion, "What is this?"

"That is the sole antidote for Eston's poison," Marlgen calmly answered, "Eston was so worried about his poisons being used against him that he concocted an antidote to each and every poison he created. Have the troll swallow the mixture in the bag and then wait five minutes before removing the dagger. The antidote may stop the paralyzing effect of the poison but the pain will hit her for a couple of minutes. Granted that is still better than the alternative."

"That be awfully generous of you," Zulrea remarked snidely.

"I may be part of the Syndicate but I'm a businessman," Marlgen replied without care, his arms folded behind his back, "I originally joined this organization to make gold no matter what it took. I rose through the ranks carefully and with consideration for every move I make. Your friend's actions have hampered the Syndicate activities in Hillsbrad for weeks to come. As much as I would like to take vengeance, I have already seen what happens to those that try to fight him. While I might have been able to kill him by himself, against all five of you the rate of success is practically zero. Therefore the smart thing to do would be to simply let you go. I have informed my remaining men not to attack you. You have five minutes to leave before I rescind the order."

With his message delivered Marlgen turned around to leave, his men closely following his every step in case one of them tried to attack the new sole overseer of Durnholde Keep. Watching the human leave with a glare in his eye, Taruk spat upon the ground, "I don't believe a word out of that human's mouth. For all we know that human was bluffing and your sister is in no danger."

"I don't trust him either," Maji wholeheartedly agreed. Casting his gaze upon the fallen form of his sister, Maji noted with concern that Zulrea had broken out into a cold sweat. The poison must already be slowly entering her sister, "But we be having no alternative. I'm not risking me sister's life on a possibility."

Taruk snorted, "Are you suggesting giving your sister what that human called an antidote? For all we know it could be another poison."

"Why would dat human be giving us a poison when me sister's already poisoned?" Maji quickly answered back.

Taruk didn't have anything to say to that. It was apparent that his friend had made up his mind about what he was going to do, the consequences be damned. As much as he would have liked to carve that smug human's face in with a battleaxe, Taruk wanted to get out of the keep. If he stayed any longer he was afraid its' stench would seep into his skin. Shuddering slightly from just thinking about that, he turned to Ichigo, "I grow weary of this place human. Grab the night elf and help carry his weak out of this place."

Ichigo scowled, "I have a name."

"I'm sure you do but I don't really care," the orc sarcastically answered while turning his back on the shinigami. Picking up Zulrea with both arms and one hand firmly grasping the poisoned dagger, he began walking out of the keep.

Ichigo should have been surprised at the lack of hostility in the orc's voice but after everything that happened in the last few hours he was willing to go along with it. Carefully picking Aewendir up and throwing the druid's arm around his shoulders, the shinigami walked out through the front gates of Durnholde Keep and away from everything that had just happened. If he never had to come back to this place it would be too soon.

* * *

...

* * *

Marco Ghoulstomper stood anxiously by the Undercity flightmaster. He didn't know why he was doing this, it was absolutely insane of him to even consider it, but it was something he felt he had to do. When his glowing yellow eyes caught a slight shift in the density of the shadows surrounding him, Marco realized his waiting was over.

"Well, if it isn't the _special_ forsaken," a familiar female voice said with just a slight hint of disdain and annoyance, "What is the _great and powerful_ Marco Ghoulstomper doing here?"

"Hello to you as well Silana."

Marco and Silana's relationship was complicated but it could be summed up with the simple phrase of mutual hatred. Silana hated Marco for regaining his freedom from the Lich King ahead of the Dark Lady and only joining the forsaken due to having no where else to go. Marco hated her because she was, frankly and to the point, a loyal lap dog of the Dark Lady who would do anything to please her mistress.

It all started roughly two or three years ago. Marco found it was hard to keep track of time when you're undead. Days, months and years don't matter when your body doesn't age and eventually time just starts to blend together. Several of the oldest undead, the ones that were just barely able to cope with their new existence, had already devolved to a feral state as the passage of time caught up to them. Their bodies may be eternal, to an extent, but their minds didn't change.

Roughly two to three years ago Marco had been stationed in the Undercity for some time. While he was a newly christened deathguard he, unlike his fellow guards, was not allowed out of the Undercity to spread the power and glory of the Dark Lady. It hadn't taken him long, perhaps a day or two of constantly patrolling the dark and foreboding hallways, to realize why that was. As one of the few undead in the forsaken that had come back from death without having to break free from the Lich King's mental domination he presented a conundrum to Sylvanas. Not one necromancer or apothecary in the Dark Lady's service could figure out why that was and Marco was not about to let them open him up. Vivisection might not hurt but it would be strange and awkward to see his organs being manhandled.

He could still remember the first time Silana decided to grace him with her presence.

_~~ Two Years Ago – Three Years after Death of Archimonde ~~_

_Marco was patrolling the Undercity, a nonexistent sigh of boredom threatening to pass through his lips. He didn't know what made his so special but apparently the Dark Lady found herself interested in what made him tick. Already several apothecaries had tried to persuade him to donate his body and soul for the good of the forsaken. One of them, a female undead by the name of Katrina Rotsnapper, scared the daylights out of Marco. The zeal and subdued insanity that the new deathguard had seen behind her glowing yellow eyes scared him to the point where if she once again tried to kidnap him for her 'research' he might just make a break for it. Kalimdor sounded good this time of year._

_A whistling drew the attention of his supernatural senses. Dodging to the side just as an arrow passed through the air where the junction between his body and neck had been, Marco drew his sword, "Who's there?"_

_"So you're the one that has drawn the attention of my lady. I'm not impressed," a sneering female voice said from within the shadows. Taking a few steps back to better prepare in case of another attack, Marco recognized the voice as similar to the dark rangers the Dark Lady had recently returned to their bodies but something was different. This voice lacked the reverberations that all dark rangers had but there was something else that intrigued him. It took the deathguard a minute to figure it out but it hit him. It was faint but it was there – a pulse._

_"I never said I was impressive," Marco tried to stall for time. He didn't know why someone still of the living was in the Undercity but to brazenly attack a deathguard implied they weren't afraid of being spotted. That was a frightening prospect, "Who are you?"_

_"Who am I?" the voice repeated Marco's question and soon enough a figure emerged from the shadows, the inky blackness peeling off her form like Marco had seen happen to dark rangers from time to time. The only difference was that, while the figure wore the same black attire as dark rangers, her skin had a healthy pallor and her eyes glowed with a blue light that Marco recognized as belonging to a high elf, "You may call me Silana but that is all you are going to get out of me. I am here for you."_

_"Me?" the conversation was getting worse and worse to Marco. Subtlety raising the shield on his left arm he asked, "Why?"_

_"You think yourself better than the Dark Lady?"_

_Now that was a loaded question and Marco was not stupid. The ranger in front of him was obviously expecting a certain answer and would, depending on what he said, probably kill him. While most forsaken would answer with a resounding 'no' or 'never' Marco decided upon something different, "If you're suggesting I'm stronger, faster, or smarter than the Dark Lady then I can assure you I am not. The Dark Lady could kill me several times over without breaking a sweat."_

_While Marco thought that was the right thing to say apparently it was not, if the high elf's narrowing eyes meant anything. Sensing danger, Marco quickly brought his shield up as several arrows thudded into the wooden barrier._

_"Do you take me for a fool?" Silana's voice was laced with venom and, at that point, Marco realized she was insane in every sense of the word, "Do you think you're better than the Dark Lady because you were able to come back to life without her help or because your mind was strong enough to deny the Lich King."_

_"Oh, this again," Marco sighed as the one thing different about him was brought up yet again. This time it seemed that it would actually kill him. He just wanted to live a peaceful life, one without the constant fear of a second death looming over his shoulder. The first chance he got he was going to go and find someplace quiet to guard._

_~~ Present Time ~~_

Luckily for Marco the Dark Lady had shown herself at that time, preventing Silana from killing him. He wasn't sure what Sylvanas was doing there or how she even knew where to go. Most forsaken would say the Dark Lady knew what they were doing at every moment of the day but Marco had a sneaking suspicion that Sylvanas had planned for Silana to meet him. Whether it was because she wanted to see whether he had some hidden power or how her favorite dark ranger would react to his 'birth' Marco didn't know and, frankly, he didn't care.

Several weeks later he found himself transferred to Brill and just last year, Tarren Mill.

"So what are you doing here?" Silana placed her hands on her hips and coldly smiled at the deathguard, "Do you need another reminder of just how much of a failure you are to the Dark Lady."

Marco was nonplussed by her words, "A failure I may be, but I am still alive. The Dark Lady must need me for something."

Silana's eyes narrowed at the perceived insult. Making an effort to reach for the bow slung across her back she warned, "Do you think that just because you are in the Undercity you can mock and insult me? I could kill you right now and everyone would believe you were a traitor to the Scourge. Even the Dark Lady wouldn't think twice about believing me."

"Think what you want," Marco nonchalantly waved his hand, "But I'm actually here for your benefit, against my better judgment. You see, I have some more information about the man you're chasing, the one that killed Frederick, that I did not tell the Dark Lady at the time."

Before Silana could snap at him, Marco raised a skeletal hand, "Don't assume that I purposely held this information back. I just didn't connect the dots until I was getting healed after my punishment at the hands of the Dark Lady."

That last bit seemed to calm the dark ranger down, "Oh? And what fresh information do you have for me?"

"A location of where he's going," Marco said, much to Silana's astonishment. She had been planning to track the boy down using every ranger skill at her disposal but a location…that would help her greatly.

"Fine. Where is he going?"

Marco sighed, "After he killed Frederick and defeated me in combat, I heard the man mention something about gryphons and dwarves. Apparently he was planning on rendezvousing with someone. It wasn't until a few hours ago that I realized he must have been talking about the Wildhammer dwarves in the hinterlands. I don't know how much that can help you but it should be a good starting point."

"I never thought I'd see the day that you would help me," while her comment may have come off as a compliment to most other people, Marco knew it for the insult it was, "But I suppose I should thank you. You have, after all, made my job much easier. Perhaps after I bring this boy's body back I'll put in a good word for you with the Dark Lady."

Watching Silana mount a vampire bat and fly off, most likely to Tarren Mill, Marco wondered if what he just did was the right thing. He may have told Silana that Ichigo went to the Hinterlands but that was a downright lie. He had no clue where Ichigo was going. For all he knew, he was still in Southshore sleeping and relaxing. Despite the very real possibility of being killed, or worse, for what he just did, Marco felt a feeling of contentment. Despite basically betraying the forsaken, his own people, by leading Silana on a wild goose chase, he felt he did the right thing.

_"I only hope I live to see that it wasn't in vain."_

* * *

...

* * *

True to Marlgen's word, the group of five found their path out of Durnholde Keep and into the rest of Hillsbrad peaceful and with a distinct lack of being accosted by Syndicate rogues every step of the way. Still, to throw off any spies and pursuers that they just happened to pick up, the group headed in the opposite direction of Tarren Mill, which was their likely destination, and back towards Arathi, where it all started.

Zulrea's back tensed as another spasm of pain arced through her body. While the pain, when it occurred, was excruciating and made her want to throw up, she took solace in the fact that it was only temporary and would abate within an hour. She was grateful, as much as she could be, to that human bastard for giving her the antidote. She would still kill him if she ever saw him again. He did order her kidnapping and eventual torture and enslavement after all. Zulrea would just make sure to thank him for saving her life before slitting his throat with a blade. He didn't deserve to die from her magic. Doing so would insult both the spirits she formed a pact with and every fiber of her being.

"There we go," Zulrea stepped back and lowered her hands, the Healing Wave spell dissipating back into the aether. The healing spell had left her more drained than usual. She chocked it up to killing dozens of humans with spell after spell and then nearly dying to a fatal poison, "Your leg be as good as new now."

Aewendir slowly and carefully put his leg down before putting pressure on it. When he didn't experience a familiar lance of pain he sighed in relief, "While I thank you for the assistance in healing my leg, I could have done it myself. No offense to your skills implied."

"I'm sure you be a fine healer," Zulrea replied and looked away from the night elf, "But that was something I had to do."

With a grunt Aewnedir sat down on the grass. As a druid he always felt most at home and relaxed when in close proximity to nature. That was why he tended to avoid the more industrial cities of Stormwind and Ironforge unless he absolutely needed to be there. Owing his health to the troll's hospitality and healing, he civilly asked, "Why do you say that?"

"A troll never leaves demsleves in debt," Zulrea answered matter-of-factly, "It be a great dishonor to leave ya without repaying ya first."

"I see…" that was not the answer the druid was expecting. He had fought many trolls in battle before, killed hundreds over his long lifetime, and even traveled with one or two some years ago but not a single one had ever mentioned something like that. To be honest, the most he knew of trolls outside of their formidable combat and magical skills was their worship of greater spirits they referred to as loa.

Across the clearing where the group had decided to rest an entirely different conversation was taking place. Ichigo, armored arms folded across his chest and a scowl on his face, stared straight into Maji's eyes, "You wanted to speak with me? Fine. Here I am."

Leaning against a tree with his eyes closed in quiet contemplation, Maji let out a breath and asked, "So human, what be your name?"

Ichigo let out a mental sigh of relief, _"So that what this was all about."_

"The name's Ichigo."

"Ichigo…" Maji rolled the name over his tongue several times. It was certainly an odd name. Of that there was no doubt. The troll was certain he had never come across a name quite like that before in his life. Still, humans were strange beings. He wouldn't put it past them to name their son or daughter something odd like Ichigo, "I have a question dat's been bothering me for some time. What be your true reason for helping us back there in da keep and don't be saying it was da right ting to do."

"Then I guess you're going to be disappointed because that is exactly why I did it," Ichigo said in exasperation. He was starting to get a little annoyed, but mostly pissed off, with everyone assuming he had an ulterior motive for rescuing them. One would think they would be grateful for what he did but all Ichigo received were suspicious stares and loaded questions. At this point he was actually starting to regret saving them. Shaking his head to clear the headache before it formed, he asked, "Why is it so hard to believe that I didn't need a reason to help you?"

"Because I have yet to meet a human that generous," Taruk answered for his friend. Until now the orc had been content with sitting on the sidelines and letting Maji do all the talking, "You may have helped us, and I thank you for that, but humans are, by their own nature, selfish and cruel. Orcs have their pride and honor, tauren have their myths and ancestry and trolls have their spirits and culture. Those of the Horde know how brutal the world is and band together to survive. We don't hide our true nature but you humans; you cover your cruelty and savagery with a mask of culture."

"I-" Ichigo cut himself off before he got into an argument that had no end. He may be human but he was on a different world, where humans had lived alongside several other sentient and advanced races for most of their history. He did not know too much about what this world's humans did to the orcs and until he did he was just going to stay out of any conversations like this, "…never mind. I'm not going to argue with you about this. You're just going to have to trust me when I saw I had no other reason to help you other than the fact it was the right thing to do. You don't trust me, that's not my problem."

"You have some nerve speaking like that," Taruk stood up to his full height and brandished a sword at the young shinigami.

"It seems to me that the Syndicate were a lot more scared of me than they ever were of you," Ichigo was sick and tired of Taruk's attitude, if the twitch in his eyebrow was a clear indication, "If you want a fight so badly then you can forget about it. I'm not going to fight over something so trivial as this."

"This is not a trivial fight. It's a matter of honor," Taruk frowned in confusion when Ichigo turned his back on him. He was so sure the human would be glad to fight him that when Ichigo refused he was left in a state of bewilderment.

Maji let out an annoyed groan, "Taruk…"

"It is pointless," Ichigo stared off into the distance as a particularly strong breeze blew through the trees. The wind carried a chill that would have made him shiver if he wasn't currently wearing armor but it had a trace of something else in it. He couldn't place it but it made the very depths of his soul shiver in disgust. There wasn't something right about it and he hoped to never have to find out what it was, "The only reason you should ever have to fight is to protect someone. I learned that lesson the hard way…"

Turning towards Maji, who had adopted a pensive expression, Ichigo sighed and asked, "What are you going to do now?"

"I suppose we be heading to Tarren Mill," Maji admitted with a slight hint of disgust in his voice. He had never cared for the forsaken town. It smelled too much of death and decay. While the occasional troll, orc or tauren visited Tarren Mill on their way to the Undercity, Silverpine, or the Plaugelands they never stayed for longer than was necessary. The forsaken may be part of the Horde but something about the undead bothered Maji. The moment that he arrived at Tarren Mill, Maji was going to take a vampire bat and head back to Hammerfell before traveling to Stranglethorn Vale. He needed some rest and relaxation and a week of exploring the ruins of the Gurubashi Empire would be just what he needed.

Taruk was much less pleased about where they were going, "Do we have to go there? I'd rather sleep in the mud then stay one night in Tarren Mill."

"I be feeling the same way but Zulrea needs time to heal. She may be cured but dat poison took a toll on her body. Hammerfell be too far away for her to walk."

"Fine. The sooner we leave the better."

"I could be wrong about you human," Taruk admitted, "You have honor and strength most humans lack. Lok'tar ogar…It means 'victory or death' in orcish. Let it be known that if I ever find myself on the battlefield with you, I will make sure your death is honorable. When our blades clash, it will be a battle between two warriors. As my blade stabs your heart and your life's blood pours onto the ground, I will salute you with the highest honors an orc can receive."

"The name's Ichigo."

Taruk grunted before nodding, "May we meet again…Ichigo."

Before leaving, Ichigo went to check up on Aewendir. The druid was sitting on the ground, his eyes closed, with a feeling of peace around him. Sensing Ichigo's approach, he opened his golden eyes, "You do not need to worry about me Ichigo. My leg has been fully healed. Zulrea's skill with healing magic is surprisingly advanced. I did not expect a troll to be so skilled at healing."

Ichigo decided to let that comment slide, "What are you going to do now?"

"I don't know," the druid admitted, "After everything that happened, from my kidnapping to escaping the Syndicate, I think I might rest in Southshore for a few days. After that I will head back to Darnassus. There is much to report on what I did and found and the Archdruid is not someone that appreciates delays."

There was something in the way that Aewendir spoke of the Archdruid that made Ichigo frown, "You were kidnapped. How's that your fault?"

"Perhaps you are correct but the Archidruid is not a man that tolerates failure unless there is a very good reason and even then…" as Aewendir trailed off, a contemplative look in his eyes, he stood up on his newly healed leg. Ichigo didn't know just how tall the night elf was until that very moment, when the druid's seven-foot frame towered over him, "If you don't mind, I would prefer to change the topic. You said you were heading to Stormwind, did you not?"

Ichigo nodded," Yeah."

"Then I think I might be able to help you. I keep in touch with a colleague of mine, a fellow druid, by the name of Maldryn when I'm forced to go to Stormwind. If you find him and say that I sent you, I'm sure he will be more than glad to offer you any assistance you may require while within the city."

"Thanks," Ichigo was adverse to asking for help but since he knew so little about Azeroth he needed all the help he could get, "If I meet him I'll be sure to do so."

"I wish you luck on your journey Ichigo," Aewendir turned around and spotted Southshore in the distance, the trails of smoke lazily wafting into the sky a clear indication of where the town was, "If you're heading to Stormwind by land, go through Menethil Harbor. It's much safer than traveling through the Khaz Mountains this time of the year."

Without another word Aewendir shifted into a nightsaber and ran off into the woods, much to Ichigo's shock. Standing there with his mouth slightly agape, the shinigami wasn't exactly sure what he had just seen. One moment Aewendir was standing there and the next he had transformed into a large cat. Shaking his head and rubbing the bridge of his nose to dissuade any potential headache from trying to understand what he had just seen, Ichigo turned around and headed back to the main road.

Stepping out onto the surprising well-kept dirt road that spanned the entire Hillsbrad Foothills from east to west, Ichigo gazed up into the sky and noted that it had been several hours since he had been in this exact same spot and yet so much had changed in that time. He had rescued four people that weren't human but talked and acted no differently than people back on his own world.

Adjusting his zanpakuto on his back one last time, Ichigo began walking down the road towards the Arathi Highlands. While he didn't regret taking the detour to save those people from the Syndicate, it had wasted several hours of his time and, if Phin Odelic was correct, that meant the forsaken and their queen was that much closer to catching up to him. Ichigo wasn't sure if he was ready to take on someone like that.

As the looming ruins of Thoradin's Wall grew ever taller, the once majestic stone and mortar walls blotting out the land below in endless darkness from the sun meandering in the skies above, Ichigo quickened his pace. Passing through the destroyed and ruined gate that had, at one time, been used to keep order and peace between the realms of Stromgarde and Lordearon, Ichigo took his first steps out of Hillsbrad and onto the rest of his journey.


	6. Chapter 6: Ogres and Time

Here is Chapter 6 of **Rise of the True Death God**. This chapter was delayed quite a bit due to a mixture of writer's block and the holidays. I put a lot of effort (along with my beta reader) to make this chapter as great as possible. I originally planned for this chapter to end quite a bit later in Ichigo's adventure through the Arathi Highlands but I quickly realized that would make the pacing, compared to the previous chapters, much too fast and so I broke it up into two chapters. The next chapter should bring an end to the Arathi Highlands.

I want to say that as of posting this chapter, this story has over 10,000 views and 100 reviews! I thank everyone that had taken the time to post a review for this story. That is all I want to say so don't forget to read and review.

I would also like to apologize to all my reviewers who ask me questions. I keep telling myself I will answer them in the next chapter and then that chapter comes...well, you know. So I thank the following people for reviewing Chapter 5: **Shinkicker, alchemists19, xbox432, Rc1212, dragonDraw, saddas74, dalulzing, Guest #1, 99 luffy, Takei Daloui, Last of the Ancients, ultima-owner, and Piterio. **If I misspelled any of your names, please forgive me.

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**Rise of the True Death God: Chapter 6**

"Keep it up men!" a stern and battle-hardened man walked across the ramparts where a battle was taking place, "Don't let these creatures take one step within these walls!"

Dathanor Cromwell, decorated captain of Stromgarde and interim commander of all her remaining forces, flinched as a rock nearly three times the size of his fist passed through the air inches from his head. The ogres' assault certainly wasn't letting up. The brutish creatures may have the average intelligence of a dog but their strength was not something to ignore. That last volley of rocks attested to that. A solemn glance around at the several crumpled forms lying around him, blood oozing slowly out of gaps in crushed armor, only helped to drive in how bad the battle was going.

The battle had been raging since shortly after dawn and yet he had already personally seen nearly two dozen of his men lose their lives to these creatures. As much as the death and carnage bothered him, Dathanor did not let it show. He was the highest ranked officer still alive or within the keep. His men were counting on him to lead them and lead them he shall. Motioning with a sweep of his arm he shouted, "Resume formation and return fire!"

With that single motion, several nearby archers shifted targets away from the onrushing troll and towards the ogres remaining further back. In one fluid and precise motion, dozens of arrows screamed through the air and pierced the skulls of any ogre unfortunate enough to be in their path. An ogre's skull may have been thick enough to offer protection against small weapons but was no match for the sharpness afforded to the arrows by dark iron.

As the horde outside the keep began to thin out, albeit minutely, Dathanor gazed up into the sky and realized that it was the middle of the afternoon. Had the battle actually be waging for that long?

In retrospect, whoever was on watch at the time should have seen this coming but the captain could not shift all the blame onto one person. A few days ago he had received reports of Boulderfist activity in the surrounding hills. That was not unexpected. The ogres tended to move about the highlands without a purpose in mind. When the reports indicated the ogres building some sort of encampment not even a mile north of the keep, Dathanor had dismissed the reports as paranoid. Ogres did not build structures, they had enslaved populations build them or they simply attacked an already established settlement. The thought of ogres, normally idiotic creatures that could be tricked into running off a ledge given the right incentive, being able to plan a settlement of their own scared the veteran captain.

The first attacks took the Stromgarde defenders completely off guard. As he stumbled and weaved through the flying projectiles and rocks, Dathanor climbed up to the ramparts and discovered just how the ogres managed to get so organized.

That son of a bastard Kovork was leading them.

Dathanor had only encountered Kovork once in the past but the captain had never forgotten him. He had never seen an ogre that smart. Actually, smart was being overly generous. When the average intelligence of an ogre was between that of a dog and a child, anything was an improvement. Kovork might not have the intelligence of a human but he was smart enough to organize the Boulderfist ogres into a formidable force as well as beat the Witherbark trolls, who usually keep to themselves, into helping.

Ariana's mounted division easily repelled the initial assault by the Boulderfist. The mounted soldiers, led by the captain herself, ran circles around the slower ogres. That was when the Witherbark trolls appeared. With the trolls cutting them off from the rear and the ogres pressing forward, it was a miracle that Ariana was able to gather what men remained and take off towards the relative safety of Refuge Pointe. With Ariana and her men gone, the number of remaining soldiers in the keep had dropped to nearly a quarter of what it was a year ago.

By the Twisting Nether, the captain couldn't understand how the ogres managed to gather such a large force. His scouts had reported the number of ogres within the highlands numbered no more than two hundred scattered around the eastern mountains and yet he had counted more than half of that on the field below. The ogres may have been stupid enough to bring their entire tribe to a battle but Kovork was smarter than that, if by only a little. Something was off about all this. Either the reports he read were grossly inaccurate, unlikely but still a distinct possibility, or the ogres had somehow managed to bring reinforcements from outside the highlands. The latter of which had the captain involuntarily shudder.

A flicker of movement out of the corner of his eyes forced Dathanor to refocus back on the battle at hand. Almost ten trolls had managed to avoid the volley of arrows and spells from his mages and were quickly making their way towards Trollbane Bridge, the only way in or out of the keep. If his forces were unable to stop the trolls from making their way through the gates then he would be looking at a slaughter. He may hate trolls with every fiber of his being but Dathanor could not ignore the Witherbark's ability to fight in close quarters.

"Reinforce the bridge! Don't let those trolls get one foot inside the keep! Archers, keep those ogres at bay!"

At his order a dozen soldiers, comprised of some of the best warriors and paladins still at his beck and call, charged down what had once been the main throughway of the keep and out onto Trollbane Bridge. As he watched his men run to engage the enemy, with a likely chance that more than one of them would not return, Darthnor turned his attention toward the ruined buildings to his rear.

He was no fool. Dathanor knew that the longer his men were forced to fight the trolls and ogres outside, the greater the chance the Syndicate forces occupying the central complex to his rear would try to attack. If those traitorous bastards ever tried to do something like that, then Dathanor had a nasty surprise waiting for them. Two-dozen mages and warlocks, comprising all of his magic forces currently not firing spells at the invading forces, stood waiting at the only way out from Syndicate territory under the illusion of shadows. The moment the Syndicate tried anything funny they would be hit by so many spells and curses they wouldn't know their ass from their elbow.

The Stromgarde soldiers intercepted the trolls just as they were about halfway across the bridge. Using shields emblazoned with the clenched red first symbolizing Stromgarde, they halted the forward momentum of the trolls and with a supreme effort managed to slowly push them back.

The trolls were not about to let the humans get the better of them. Using their superior strength and tenacity the Witherbark trolls buckled down and pushed back against the charging warriors. One or two of the soldiers collapsed under the vicious counterattack and were quickly slaughtered but the majority managed to recover their footing and close the gaps in their lines. Troll tenacity fought against human determination. If the trolls managed to break through the human lines they would have a clear shot at entering Stromgarde Keep, a foothold Dathanor was uncertain he would be able to remove without excessive casualties.

For a moment the human soldiers managed to hold their own but eventually brute strength began to overwhelm them. As they were slowly and methodically pushed back across the bridge, they were relieved when several shouts of "Hammer of Justice" rang out. The paladins who had come to support them had, as one, cast the signature holy spell to stop the trolls from attacking but, far more importantly, also from moving. In that short respite from attack the soldiers pressed the advantage. Steel blades flew forth and pierced hearts and brains, the only two organs the trolls were unable to regenerate, and quickly slaughtered the attacking Witherbark down to the last man.

"Fall back into the keep!" As the troll attack quickly became a rout Dathanor ordered his men to pull back. While this particular attack may have been stopped there were still dozens, if not hundreds, of ogres and trolls waiting on the plains in front of the keep for any excuse to attack. It was better for his men to fall back into the keep than to die a pointless and painful death.

"Lieutenant!"

In short order a soldier wearing a white tabard with the Stromgarde red fist appeared and quickly saluted the captain, "Yes sir?"

"Any word from Captain Ariana?"

"No sir," Dathanor hadn't expected any differently but he was always open to a miracle, "But a scout managed to sneak out through the eastern walls and made it to Refuge Pointe. Captain Ariana and her remaining men had managed to meet with Commander Amaren and are awaiting the chance to return."

It was good news that Commander Amaren was still alive and in good health. Amaren was a woman of high integrity and intelligence. Dathanor had served under her for a couple of years now and he could honestly say that she was someone he respected. It was under her command that the keep fought off repeated attempts by the Syndicate but once she had been forced out by a traitor's trap everything had fallen apart.

"Has the scout been given time to rest?"

It was getting harder and harder to find good scouts. Years of sneaking around ogres, Syndicate rogues, and Horde adventurers had helped to dwindle their numbers down to less than a dozen. At the lieutenant's affirmative nod Dathanor hummed in thought and continued, "Tell them to head back to Refuge Pointe as soon as they can and inform Commander Amaren that we are managing to hold the keep as best we could but any reinforcements would be greatly appreciated."

The lieutenant snapped a quick salute and left. Turning his gaze over the parapets out onto the battlefield, Dathanor wondered just how much longer he would be able to hold the keep against the assault. There was no doubt in his mind that the Syndicate was trying to push into Stromgarde-held territory at this very moment. Falconcrest was a terribly creative bastard. It wouldn't be anything overt like a charge or assault. Falconcrest would send one or two rogues in under the cover of stealth to determine any signs of weakness. If there were anyone in the Arathi Highlands able to break through their defenses…

"Captain Cromwell!"

He turned his head as the approaching voice. A soldier, one of the many nameless men and women who were under his command, was running towards him. From his ragged breathing it was apparent he had come quite a far way to speak with him, "Yes, what is it?"

The soldier rested his hands on shaky knees and replied, "Something…to the west…near Thoradin's Wall…you should see!"

Dathanor had trained his men to be constantly vigilant. They needed to be to survive in the harsh world. Experience had shown him that someone who let their guard down was not long for the world, "Show me."

Thoradin's Wall was a remarkable feat of dwarven and human engineering that dominated the landscape for most of the highlands but to Dathanor it was a constant reminder of what the kingdom had once been. In days longs past, streams of merchants and soldiers would pass through the large gate in the center with the knowledge that they were safe. Now the wall had fallen into disrepair like much of the Stromgarde. He would do anything to help the kingdom regain that past glory.

He followed the soldier through the barracks that were once the homes and businesses of Stromgarde civilians and merchants and eventually crossed the sole walkway connecting the eastern and western halves of the capital. This small piece of road, no more than five feet across and twenty feet long, had been the site of several major battles since the fall of most of the keep. Traitors they may be, but the Syndicate had realized the vital importance that the structure possessed. If Stromgarde were to lose control of the walkway, they would be effectively split in two. Over the years since the initial fall, that one small structure had been the site of several battles. At first the Syndicate tried to gain control but after one too many defeats, control turned to destruction. Dathanor had lost several of his best men and women when they had sacrificed themselves to disable explosive traps left by the Syndicate.

Walking past scores of injured soldiers being tended to by priests, and anyone who possessed a basic understanding of first aid, Dathanor followed the soldier up a hastily erected ladder that led onto the western ramparts. As he cautiously ascended the final few rungs, he grabbed the spyglass the soldier offered him and gazed out over the highlands.

Gnomish engineering never ceased to amaze him. To think that the gnomes could manage to come up with a small and portable magnifying device was something he could only have dreamt of. In the past such devices were bulky and bolted in place, allowing an intelligent enemy to target and take them out, causing the defenders to lose a vital piece of technology and any advantage it might have given them.

At first glance Dathanor saw nothing but familiar rolling hills and fields of wheat and crops in the distance, "What am I looking for soldier?"

The soldier must have heard the irritation in his captain's voice because his reply faltered, "L-Look at the fork in the road near Northfold Manor."

Northfold…that was a name Dathanor hoped he would never hear again. That farmstead had been nothing but trouble ever since the Syndicate managed to get their grubby little hands on it. When Stromgarde fell, it didn't collapse so much as it fell apart one piece at a time. Northfold Manor and the surrounding areas had been one of the first to go. One day the various families farming on the land were tending to their crops and the next the Syndicate had moved in and either killed or enslaved the people there.

Gazing out once more through the spyglass, making sure this time to focus the device on the road, Dathanor noticed something sparkle in the sun. Brow creasing in confusion, he rotated the outer lens to magnify the image and involuntarily whistled, "That is something you don't see every day."

There was someone approaching the keep from the road to the west, which meant they had to come from Hillsbrad and most likely Southshore. Dathanor was unable to ascertain too many details about the person, despite the assistance of the spyglass, but he could make out a crop of orange hair, which was very odd. His appearance aside, what drew in his interest and attention the most was the man's response, or lack thereof, to eight or nine trolls breaking off from the assault to attack him.

The trolls stopped in front of the man and Dathanor witnessed him talking to them before they burst into what he thought was laughter, which was quite strange. Almost immediately afterwards, they fell on the man and Dathanor almost missed the glint of silver as the man effortlessly drew a large broadsword, a zweihander by the looks of it, and proceeded to effortlessly parry or dodge every attack. The battle, if it could even be called that, continued for several seconds but in the end the man remained standing while the trolls collapsed on the ground alive but unconscious, much to the captain's dismay.

Dathanor drew his eye away from the spyglass and frowned. Something about this wasn't right. It was obvious that the man wasn't on the same side as the trolls, and probably not the ogres as well, but he was too skilled, too powerful, to simply be here by a twist of fate. The captain had seen men and women of this skill before, back in the Knights of the Silver Hand, but for this man to be one of them was impossible. Arthas, in his deplorable descent into madness, had disbanded the organization when they refused to aid him in the culling of Stratholme. To add insult to injury, when Arthas returned from Northrend he hunted down and killed whoever remained of the Silver Hand. There was something missing from the equation and he needed to out what it was, but to do so would require taking a huge gamble.

"Have you been able to determine what faction, if any, he belongs to?"

"No sir," the soldier responded. "He is wearing no trace of a tabard or emblem on his armor."

"This may be an unexpected, but welcome, development," Dathanor paused in his explanation for a moment as an idea came into being in his mind. It was risky, and if it failed he might go down as a traitor to the Alliance, but if it worked…well, that would solve all of their problems in one fell swoop. Collapsing the spyglass and handing it to the soldier, he cleared his throat and continued, "Go inform our lord of this new development and spare no details. Tell him he can expect me to arrive with our new guest in a short while and that Protocol Letum is in effect."

The soldier looked at the captain in shock, "Are you certain?"

Dathanor's stern reaction told the soldier all he needed to know. As he watched the soldier snap off a quick salute before leaving, the captain rubbed his hand over his tired face. He didn't know whether it was the lack of sleep or the desperation that made him think this plan would work but some part of his mind was utterly convinced it would.

"Light help me if I'm wrong."

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As his zanpakuto carved through the flesh of yet another troll, causing dark crimson blood to spray into the air, Ichigo couldn't help but wonder what deity he had managed to piss off in the short time he's been on Azeroth.

After he helped Aewendir and the others escape from Durnholde Keep, Ichigo was certain nothing exciting would happen again for some time. The odds of something like this happening twice on the same day was nearly zero and yet here he was, barely half an hour after crossing into the Arathi Highlands, ambushed by trolls looking to make a meal out of him. What set these trolls apart from Maji was that unlike the warrior, whose skin was a light shade of blue, these trolls possessed skin that was a vibrant forest green color.

Ichigo ducked beneath a haphazardly swung blade, taking note of the sickly green liquid coating the metal surface.

_"Poison?"_ he thought with concern. Moving quickly to avoid being hit by the blade, Ichigo thrust the hilt of his zanpakuto up and into the chin of the troll wielding it. The force behind the blow was great enough to snap its head backwards and cause its body to go flying backwards before landing in an undignified heap on the ground.

To his credit, Ichigo had tried talking to these trolls when he first met them. Maji had been polite and willing to talk with him, to an extent, and Ichigo couldn't see any reason why these trolls wouldn't be the same. Aewendir may have stated most trolls were cannibalistic savages but Ichigo thought he was exaggerating due to prejudices. It was after the first blades flew that Ichigo came to the understanding that the night elf may have had a point after all, at least when it came to these particular trolls. When he asked what the hell they were doing, the trolls chuckled darkly and promised to eat him.

At that point Ichigo decided enough was enough. Ichigo raced towards the trolls faster than they could react. While trolls had developed excellent reflexes from centuries of eking out a living on the land, with the odd dozen or so sacrifices to their less noble loa spirits, they could not have expected Ichigo to be as fast as he was. With his armor, even if it was composed mostly of mithril, there was no way a human could run that fast. Luckily for Ichigo, and unfortunately for them, he wasn't exactly a human anymore even if he may still consider himself one.

Jumping into the air, Ichigo avoided the slash from the last troll's blade and stabbed his zanpakuto through its stomach faster than it could react. To his increasing lack of surprise, the troll managed to ignore the normally fatal wound and tried to use Ichigo's close proximity to get in one final attack. Leaping back to avoid the attack, inadvertently dragging his zanpakuto out of the troll with a squelching sound, Ichigo was both happy and irritated that trolls possessed remarkable regenerative capabilities. He was happy because he didn't need to worry about accidentally killing any of them by fighting them seriously, as he was now, when their regeneration would heal their wounds. It was also getting quite irritating and annoying because they just wouldn't stay the hell down. How many times did he need to stab a troll in the gut before they took the hint that they were outclassed?

"Come on, just give up already."

The troll spit at Ichigo and tried to stand up, the gaping wound in his stomach slowly healing, but quickly collapsed to his knees and then the ground when the pain he was feeling became too much.

"I guess that's all of them," Ichigo let out an exhausted sigh. After he had quickly taken care of the first four or five trolls, most of the rest had quickly tried to blindside him by attacking him all at once. That proved to be a mistake on their part as Ichigo was used to fighting large groups of opponents at once. Back in Karakura Town, he fought off gangs of punks that kept attacking him due to his hair or apparent delinquent looks.

"Now where did they come from?"

Ichigo wondered where the trolls had come from. From their weapons it was obvious they weren't out foraging for food, or at least any food he would even dare look at. No, the looks on their faces suggested they were looking for a fight and his presence had been enough to draw their attention. If he had to wager a guess, Ichigo would say the trolls had come from the direction of the castle in the distance. He didn't have any particular reason to think that but since it was the only landmark around, he felt it was the best place to start looking.

As he leisurely walked towards the castle, his greaves echoing softly on the road, Ichigo let his zanpakuto rest against the junction of his shoulder and neck. He didn't know why he subconsciously put his zanpakuto like that. Rukia had tried to beat into his head that a zanpakuto should always be sheathed when not fighting or some other old-fashioned samurai crap. Ichigo liked to think he was smarter than that. Why would he put his zanpakuto away when he could be ambushed within the span of several seconds?

Drawing closer to the castle, Ichigo began to feel as if something was off. He didn't like how quiet everything was. It was as if the entire area had fallen deathly silent in preparation for something. Gazing to his right and down into the large ditch surrounding the castle, Ichigo noted dozens upon dozens of dead trolls and other, larger creatures, covering the ground.

"What the hell is going on?"

Eventually reaching the entrance to the castle, Ichigo stood in front of what appeared to be the only bridge in and noted that the ancient masonry composing the castle walls was pitted with fresh cracks and holes. The cobblestones lining the surface of the bridge, which Ichigo hadn't felt the need to look at before, were covered in splashes of red and a darker crimson. A battle had taken place here and, judging by the way the blood was still wet, quite recently too.

Ichigo's ears picked up the sound of something whistling through the air. Quickly spinning around and deflecting the thrown tomahawk with the broad side of his zanpakuto, Ichigo was once again reminded why he constantly kept his zanpakuto out of its sheath.

Blocking several more thrown weapons and dodging as a rock the size of his head smashed into the ground behind him, Ichigo realized that he had walked right into a trap. Dozens of trolls, their green bodies helping to blend in with the grass, appeared from the hills surrounding the keep. If that wasn't bad enough, there were more of those larger creatures lumbering towards him faster than he liked, and several of them were using the trunks of trees as a makeshift weapon. Ichigo could take on several of these trolls at once if he had to. They weren't intelligent like Maji or Zulrea were. As long as he kept a cool head and allowed his experience in fighting to lead the way he would be fine. What worried him were the big guys. He didn't need to be a genius to realize they were probably very strong and tough.

"This is going to be tough," Ichigo adjusted his grip on his zanpakuto and calmly took in the oncoming battle. Running right into the enemy lines was a great way to get killed and while he could always flee, there was no guarantee that he could get away or that he could even outrun them. It seemed to the shinigami that the only option that allowed him a chance of walking away with his life was to fight off an entire army.

All his preparations were for naught as the front line of charging trolls were quickly cut down by a veritable rain of arrows, the steel and wood projectiles easily piercing through the unarmored skulls.

"What the hell?"

Either he hadn't noticed them or they had hidden themselves up until this point but as Ichigo turned around he noticed quite a few archers firing arrows down on the approaching horde.

"What are you standing around for? Get inside! We can't hold them off forever!"

Ichigo looked around and noticed a middle-aged man in the same type of armor as the archers staring down at him from the tower directly above the entrance to the keep, "Why are you just standing around? Move it!"

Ducking beneath another tomahawk, Ichigo raced across the bridge towards the relative safety of Stromgarde Keep. Stepping through the open gates, he nearly tripped and fell over as his foot caught on the first in a series of steps that had been hidden in the shadows. Quickly regaining his balance, he ascended the steps several at a time.

_"Where the hell am I supposed to go anyway?"_

Getting away from the army of trolls and whatever the hell else was out there was fine but he had no clue where to go now. Whoever had shouted at him to come in here didn't exactly give him directions and the tall and featureless walls adorning both sides of the stairs didn't exactly help.

"There he is," a hurried voice said from somewhere above him. Ichigo glanced up and saw several soldiers run out across a walkway that connected both sides of the keep. As a rope ladder was dropped, the same soldier motioned for Ichigo to climb it, "Quick now! It won't be long before those beasts try to get inside again."

In one motion Ichigo pushed off the ground and grabbed the highest rung he could. Hanging awkwardly about halfway up the rope ladder, Ichigo dangled precariously in the air for a few seconds before reaffirming his grip and began ascending the ladder one rung at a time. He was lucky his Alabaster armor was made of mithril and therefore weighed next to nothing. He had climbed ropes in gym and they were never fun. He could do it, of course, but doing it in normal clothing was an entirely different matter than doing it in a full suit of armor and a zanpakuto strapped to his back.

When he reached the top of the ladder and made to grab the walkway for support Ichigo, to his surprise, found a set of hands take hold of his wrists and pull. In one fell swoop he was pulled bodily off the ladder and fully onto the walkway. As he let out a breath of relief he noticed someone standing over him.

"That was some strength boy," the man with the familiar voice complimented while offering Ichigo a hand, "You are lucky that we managed to spot you before the trolls and ogres got to you. One more minute out there and you would have ended up as some troll's dinner."

Ichigo reached up and took the man's hand, "I could have taken them."

"The name's Dathanor Cromwell," with a small amount of effort the man helped Ichigo onto his feet, "One of my men saw you fight off some of the trolls assaulting the keep to the west. I didn't believe him until I witnessed it with my own eyes. If I may ask, who trained you in the arte of combat?"

"No one really," Ichigo decided to leave out Rukia. There was no way anyone would believe someone over a hundred years old but stuck with the body of a fourteen year old girl was the one to teach him the basics of zanjutsu, "It's something I just picked up here and there."

"Indeed," Dathanor's tone implied that he didn't believe Ichigo but he didn't press the issue. Motioning for the substitute shinigami to follow him, the captain began leading Ichigo through the section of Stromgarde Keep still held by the kingdom.

Ichigo grimaced as his eyes fell upon a group of injured soldiers lying on makeshift cots in the burnt-out remains of a building. Even from where he was standing, the crimson color of fresh blood was apparent. Even though years of helping his father deal with the occasional car crash victim helped Ichigo to deal with situations likes this, it still didn't change the fact that people were dying.

Dathanor, noticing Ichigo lagging behind, grabbed his shoulder, "There is no time to dawdle."

With great haste, the captain continued to escort Ichigo through the winding streets of the residential section of the keep while every so often the walls would shake as the ogres continued to throw boulders against the walls. Although it was against his better judgment, the substitute shinigami decided to ask what was on his mind, "How long has this been going on?"

"Since this morning," Dathanor paused briefly before continuing, "This is just the most recent siege of the capital since we lost control a couple of years ago. With Stormwind embroiled in her pointless power struggles, any help we could have used has been lost or furloughed. My men are trapped between the mercy of the ogres and trolls outside and the Syndicate holed up deeper in the keep."

"Syndicate?" Those bastards were here as well? Ichigo wondered how far their influence reached, "I took care of the bastards back at Durnholde Keep just a few hours ago."

Dathanor stopped dead in his tracks at Ichigo's revelation, "What did you say?"

It wasn't just the captain that focused on the shinigami. Every soldier, healer and civilian within earshot turned towards him. Shrugging he said, "Of course I had help."

The captain quickly recomposed himself, "You don't understand. It's not that we find your claim of taking care of the Syndicate in Hillsbrad incredulous. It's the knowledge that your actions might have bought us a much-needed reprieve. Those traitorous bastards within Durnholde have been harassing our supply lines to Southshore for weeks."

Ichigo didn't know what to make of that. He had gone into Durnholde with the intention of helping to free those four people and yet the ramifications were more far-reaching that he could have possibly imagined. How was he to know that indirectly leading to the collapse of the Syndicate in Hillsbrad, for the time being at least, would help these people out? He hadn't even known they existed until a few minutes ago.

Eventually they arrived at a building that had at one time functioned as the center for the Church of the Holy Light for the surrounding area, and even in its current decrepit state it still radiated a sort of beauty that even Ichigo could appreciate. Stained glass windows that had once proudly pictured scenes of bravery and heroism from throughout the ages stood shattered with only pieces of jagged glass remaining. While the church may have been ruined, it had recently become reoccupied with soldiers patrolling around and most of the dirt and rubble cleared away.

"We've arrived," One of the soldiers, noticing the presence of the captain, snapped off a quick salute. Dathanor nodded back and turned to Ichigo, "I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to disarm before going any further."

For some strange reason Ichigo found the simple thought of giving away his zanpakuto strangely disturbing. While his rational mind was suggesting the captain was just being cautious around him, another part was adamantly opposing any separation from his zanpakuto. Ichigo felt he needed more information before deciding what to do, "Why?"

"It's a matter of security. We may all be armed and well-trained soldiers but it only takes an assassin one lucky strike to cripple us. If it makes you more comfortable you can leave your zweihander against the door of the church."

"Alright," Ichigo conceded reluctantly as he followed the captain's instructions. As much as he didn't want to give up his zanpakuto he felt there was no choice in the matter. Gently leaning his zanpakuto against the side of the building and making sure it wouldn't fall, Ichigo asked, "So what's in there?"

"After the central complex fell to the Syndicate we were forced to move our center of operations to this church."

Ichigo looked around the area and noticed something odd, "If this is your headquarters or something why are all your soldiers on the other side of the city? Shouldn't they all be here guarding it?"

"In some regards you are correct," Dathanor conceded, "But the church is much more secure than you think. Forty-foot high walls surround this entire area and the only way to reach the church and the nearby mausoleum is by fighting your way through the city. If anyone wanted to attack the church, we'd know far in advance."

Motioning for Ichigo to follow him, Dathanor ascended up the few steps leading to the interior of the church before disappearing into the darkness inside. Ichigo hesitated a couple of moments as he felt something strange in the air before shaking his head. This was the third time he felt something odd and yet nothing had happened. It was starting to get annoying. Walking up the steps and pushing open the rotten doors, it took Ichigo's eyes a few seconds to adjust to the abrupt change in lighting.

As he grew used to the darkness, Ichigo noticed he was alone, "Dathanor? Where the hell did he go?"

A subtle change in the atmosphere alerted Ichigo to the presence of someone hiding in the shadows behind him. He had fallen into a trap but he wasn't going to go down without a fight. Keeping his breathing calm in an attempt to prevent his would-be assailant from realizing that he knew he was there, Ichigo waited until the rogue was nearly upon him before making his move.

"Like hell I'm going to fall for that!"

Snapping his leg backwards through the air, Ichigo was rewarded with the satisfying sound of his heel impacting flesh followed by a grunt of pain as the rogue was thrown a couple of feet backwards through the air, his back impacting the wall of the church with a hollow thud.

As Ichigo approached the downed rogue, intent on beating some answers out of him, his senses screamed at him to duck. Doing so, he barely avoided the rope that would have wrapped around his neck and allowed the second rogue to easily strangle him. Turning to face his new opponent, who looked worried that Ichigo had avoided his trap, the shinigami was stopped in his tracks when a new voice spoke.

"Stand down men."

When the rogue in front of Ichigo began to step away from the shinigami, Ichigo turned towards where he had heard the voice, "I'm afraid my men were a little over zealous in their attempt to secure my safety. I had intended for them to simply immobilize you until your purpose in coming here could be determined."

"You didn't think of simply asking me?" Out of the corner of his eye Ichigo saw the rogue he had kicked get up and disappear back into the shadows, "That's a really bad way to earn someone's trust."

"I don't trust you to begin with."

A man in his late thirties or early forties appeared on the stairs in the far end of the church. He had scraggy blonde hair and a matching moustache that made him appear several years older than he actually was and wore the same red and white armor as the rest of the Stromgarde soldiers. If it wasn't for the fact that every soldier and rogue in eyesight immediately bowed at the man Ichigo wasn't sure he would have been able to tell he was important.

"Perhaps we got off to the wrong foot," the man stopped down the aisle from Ichigo and was immediately flanked by the two rogues Ichigo had fought, "Who are you?"

"The name's Ichigo," Ichigo folded his arms and leaned against a pillar, "Why don't you tell me what's going on? What happened to this place?"

"I'm not surprised the Alliance covered up what happened," the man said in an irritated, but collected, tone, "But then again, in the past few years Stormwind has become increasingly self-centered. About four years ago, not long after the end of the Third War, Stromgarde was still weak after managing to repel the Scourge forces attempting to enter from Hillsbrad. When my father was assassinated by a forsaken dark ranger, but not before taking her with him, we lost the fearsome warrior king that kept our enemies at bay. In the months that followed, the Syndicate and Boulderfist ogres stole most of our land and people away from us."

Ichigo sympathized with their plight but felt something was missing, "How does all this have to do with Stormwind?"

"It's that...bitch, for lack of a better word...Katrana Prestor. I may not have been to Stormwind since I was a young man, but she always made my skin crawl. I had the unfortunate experience to talk with her and by the end I felt as if I was in the presence of something not human. With the king's unfortunate disappearance, Bolvar Fordragon, not her, should have become sole ruler of Stormwind until young Anduin became of age. Yet she managed to weasel her way into sharing power far too easily. For months I've been asking the Alliance for help reclaiming my land, but it's always been Katrana who has refused us out of some excuse of not having enough evidence that this is a problem."

"That's not right," Ichigo noted, recalling the sad and dejected state of many of the soldiers he had seen on the way here. Anyone could tell something needed to be done about Stromgarde. The fact that this Katrana woman was refusing to help at all was suspicious in and of itself, "But what does that have to do-"

It hit him so suddenly that Ichigo would have reeled back if it had been an actual blow. The man was actually comparing him to this Katrana Prestor and, if Ichigo looked at the situation from a different point of view, he could see only the most vague of similarities between the two situations, "Wait a second. You don't think I'm like her do you?"

"Your appearance here is suspicious but there is one way to find out. Captain, if you would."

The man subtly nodded and Ichigo found the knapsack he had attached to his belt ripped off violently. Ichigo watched as Dathanor appeared at his side and tossed the bag at the man, "This was on his person, my lord."

Prince Galen Trollbane, rightful ruler to the once proud and beautiful kingdom of Stromgarde, began rifling through the contents of Ichigo's bag. After the Third War, when both ogres and traitors attacked his kingdom, he had to learn what it was to actually govern a kingdom. It was one thing to be taught about politics and war, where nothing of consequence happened if you lost, but it was something else entirely to direct the movements of troops, knowing that any decision you made led to the deaths of good men and women. Galen did not know how many men and women died under his command and, quite frankly, he hoped he never found out. He couldn't understand how his father was able to live with the guilt of knowing he sent hundreds, if not thousands, of soldiers to their deaths, or worse, during the previous wars.

_"Hold on. What's this?"_

Something at the bottom of the knapsack caught the prince's eye. Usually something like this wouldn't have garnered a second glance from Galen but there was something familiar about the seal on it. It took the prince a few seconds to recollect where he may have seen the seal before. It was eight or nine years ago, before the Third War, when he had taken a short journey into Hillsbrad. His father wanted him to expand his political horizons and so Galen spent two months in the company of the Lordaeron detachment stationed at Durnholde Keep. It was then where he had seen this very seal proudly draped over the entrance to Durnholde alongside the Lordaeron flag.

"Tell me something young man," Galen pulled whatever the seal was attached to out of the knapsack, "Where did you obtain this seal?"

Ichigo looked at Galen with a confused expression. Marcus hadn't mentioned anything about a seal, "What are you talking about?"

To be perfectly honest, Ichigo had no idea what half the stuff in the bag was. He had tried some of what Marcus had referred to as 'mage water' and nearly ended up drowning when a literal fountain poured all over his face. He didn't even know how that was possible.

Noticing that the seal was attached to a letter of sorts, Galen carelessly tore it open and began reading through it. The fact that the young man in front of him had no idea it was there was suspicious in and of itself, but Galen was not willing to jump to conclusions without evidence. He was a prince. The moment he let himself be ruled by emotions like paranoia and fear was the moment what was left of Stromgarde vanished entirely.

"This seal…" Galen was perplexed by what was written in the letter. He might not have known Marcus Redpath well enough to understand how the man thought but he knew the commander was an honorable and honest man. Assuming this letter was actually written by Marcus, then he was in the presence of someone who might be able to help them. Although, given the current situation, he shouldn't be too hasty in seeking outside help.

"Captain, take a look at this letter."

Dathanor took the letter from Galen and began skimming through it. As he read more and more of it, the captain was finding it hard to believe that Ichigo was capable of doing what Marcus Redpath had written, "Am I to assume this information is accurate?"

"If someone were to falsify a seal like that, they would have used a much more believable story," Galen answered while contemplating what Marcus's letter had contained. To think Ichigo had managed, in less than one day, to help stop a future plague of undeath from being unleashed. What the hell were the forsaken thinking when they decided to improve the plague of undeath? They might be undead now, but they must remember the pain and suffering the plague brought as it swept through Lordaeron. Galen had been in Stormwind at the time, but even the rumors he had heard about the plague brought him nightmares.

"For the moment I will assume you are being honest Ichigo," Galen felt that some information about Ichigo needed to be acquired before he could decide what to do with the lad, "I apologize for my earlier mistreatment. I am Galen Trollbane. For what purpose have you come to the Arathi Highlands?"

"It was on my way."

Galen pressed further, "Where were you heading? Menethil Harbor?"

"Stormwind actually," Ichigo let out a frustrated sigh. Everybody asking him where he was going was starting to get on his nerves. If he didn't see the need to tell them, he would have kept his mouth shut.

"You're going to Stormwind?" Galen paused for a moment to compose his thoughts, "That might pose a problem. About a fortnight ago, several Horde agents managed to infiltrate Refuge Pointe and assassinate the flight master and all her gryphons. While the assassins were caught and executed, the damage had already been done. Without those gryphons, the only ways out of the highlands are through Thoradin's Wall to Hillsbrad or Thandol Span to the southeast but that's nearly impossible to traverse with the Boulderfist ogres killing anyone that gets close."

"Ogre?" Ichigo arched an eyebrow.

"Allow me, my lord," with ease that could only come about from years of practice, Dathanor took over for the prince, "The Boulderfist tribe has a large outpost along the mountains to the east of the Thandol Span. Unless you can somehow reduce their numbers, you won't be able to pass by them without being killed."

Well, there went his plans out the window. Without any way to pass through to the Wetlands he was stuck in the highlands. As much as he would have liked to simply turn around and walk out of the keep and on his way, he wasn't about to stupidly take on a proverbial army of ogres. While one or two didn't seem like that much trouble for someone like him, more than that would be a problem. He had seen those things in action and the more he fought at once, the greater the chance one of them would get in a clean hit and that would hurt a lot.

Groaning in annoyance, Ichigo shrugged, "It doesn't seem like you're doing that well here."

Dathanor was thrown off by Ichigo's bluntness, "I beg your pardon?"

"I mean, all this," Ichigo motioned with his hand towards the exit of the church, "You're facing an army of ogres and trolls and yet you think you can win? Unless you have an ace up your sleeve then you're in serious trouble."

"Ace up my sleeve?" Dathanor had never heard an expression like that before but he understood the meaning, "If you are referring to the state of my men in the keep then you are right. Fortunately they merely represent a quarter of our true strength. About a year ago the population of the capital was almost ten thousand men and women, with nearly a quarter of them soldiers. At this moment only about five hundred remain in the keep. Most of the remaining soldiers are currently holed up in Refuge Pointe under Commander Amaren. Our situation is not as dire as you think."

"Look," Ichigo was beginning to get irritated. These people sure as hell didn't trust him, despite him giving them no reason not to, and he was starting to get sick of it, "I can't get out of your hair until these ogres are taken care of. So is there something you need me to do to make that happen?"

Ichigo's rough and direct demeanor temporarily took Dathanor aback. If the captain was honest with himself, it was a refreshing change of pace to not have someone salute or say 'yes sir' every time he said something.

"I don't need you to do anything," he informed Ichigo, whose brown eyes widened in surprise, "We already have a plan set up. Your presence here, while unexpected, might still be helpful. While I dare not suggest you alone could tip the scales of battle in our favor, your assistance could help move things along."

"Alright, I guess," Ichigo didn't like it but the faster he got out of this place the better.

"There will be two different attacks occurring simultaneously," Dathanor glanced at where Galen was standing and noticed the prince give him a slight nod. Apparently his lord wanted Ichigo to know the bare minimum of the plan without knowing enough to compromise it. With a subtle nod in return, the captain walked around the table functioning as a map of the highlands and pointed to two areas to the north and east of Stromgarde Keep, "The first attack will be led by myself while the other by Commander Amaren and Captain Ariana from Refuge Pointe."

Ichigo studied the map for a few seconds before asking. While there were two circled areas, he noted with concern that there were numbers indicating enemy strength. The number next to the ogre camp only said one hundred but the one for the trolls indicated nearly two thousands, "Why the same time?"

"Because while the ogres may have strong-armed the Witherbark tribe into helping them, the trolls have less love for us than their allies. If we hit the trolls, the ogres will easily spot the attack and come to their assistance. The same will occur if we attack the ogres. Hitting both camps at the same time will prevent reinforcements from being sent."

"As you can see…" Dathanor pointed out the large difference between the number of trolls and ogres; "The ogres have nearly twenty times the number of trolls helping them. Commander Amaren's forces should not have much trouble dealing with them. Our main objective, while the captain keeps the trolls occupied, is to take out the ogre leading the siege, Kovork."

So that was what this was about. As much as he was beginning to realize the necessity of it in this world, Ichigo was still against killing, "Let me guess, you want me to take him out for you?"

"Kovork needs to die but what makes you think you have to be the one to do it?" Dathanor sarcastically asked, "As skilled as you may be, you are only one person."

"Fine," Ichigo had reached his limit and turned to leave, "If you don't need my help I'm going to leave."

"Hold on a second Ichigo," Galen Trollbane called out just as Ichigo was about to step through the doorway back into the keep, "Perhaps Captain Cromwell was a bit…heavy handed. As the captain said, Kovork and his ogres are giving us a lot of trouble. If he were to be killed, the ability of the Boulderfist to band together into a dangerous force will be stifled for weeks, perhaps even months. If you offer your help to the captain in this endeavor…"

"I see where you're going with this," Ichigo balled a fist in frustration before letting out a defeated sigh, "Damn it. All right I'll help."

"Very well then," with a subtle nod of his head, Dathanor ordered the rogues to move out and into position. A lot was riding on this battle and he couldn't afford to lower their defenses. While attacking the ogres and trolls was the overall goal, there were other things to do as well, "In half an hour you will come with a detachment of my soldiers towards the ogre camp to the north. Until then you will have free reign around our territory. You will fight your weapon right where you left it but I recommend not doing anything suspicious. My men are on edge and might confuse you for the enemy."

As Ichigo left the church, slightly put off by the veiled threat from the captain, Dathanor heard his lord ask, "Do you trust him?"

"I'm not sure," the captain did not like having unknown variables like Ichigo when it came to a plan like this. One wrong move, one act of sabotage, and the keep could finally fall, "I don't mean to be blunt my lord, but you have not seen this boy in action. He may be young but his strength and speed are frightening. I witnessed him take down nearly eight trolls in less than a minute without accumulating any injuries. I may not know his motives but at this point it is better he is with us than against us."

Galen Trollbane nodded in understanding. Ichigo may have come out of nowhere but the prince didn't feel any negative vibes coming from the young man. Years of fighting for his kingdom had left the prince with a knack for understanding people. He had to in order to survive the many assassination attempts from the Horde to steal Trol'kalar from his ancestor's tomb. Ichigo seemed sincere about helping him and for the prince that was all that mattered for the moment. He would come to a decision on how to deal with Ichigo after the battle if Dathanor noticed anything suspicious about him.

* * *

...

* * *

She had witnessed countless empires, some of which exist only in half-destroyed ruins, rise and fall during her lifetime. The ancient Highborne Empire, led by the power-hungry and Amazonian Azshara, collapsed under its own corruption and decadence before being destroyed by the destruction of the Well of Eternity, yet she did not bat an eye at the untold thousands, if not millions, of deaths. She viewed everything that happened on Azeroth through a discerning eye, never allowing herself to be drawn into the petty conflicts of mortals. The night elves may have deemed themselves immortal but their very existence had been tied to the world tree, Nordrassil, and with its destruction they were no more immortal than any other pesky mortal.

Unlike her brethren, who viewed mortals as insects and acted accordingly, she could blend in with the mortal races without arousing much suspicion. When she was but a young drake she had gotten into a scuffle with one of her brothers that soon evolved into a battle for the death. While she had triumphed, tearing out his throat with her teeth, one of her wings and forearms had been badly damaged, leaving her on the brink of death and in misery for weeks at a time. When she had healed, against the wishes of her other brothers and sisters who wished to usurp what power and authority she possessed, she promised that she would never feel pain like that again.

And yet that pain, which up until now had been the most excruciating experience of her twelve millennia of existence, was nothing compared to how she felt right now.

The spell she used to save her life was something that had been developed after many years of intensive experimentation on captured bronze dragons to obtain any results. While she had been worried Soridormi had foreseen such acts and would move against her, nothing came of it but in the end it was worth it. The very possibility of using time, not to preserve the timeline but ones' own life, was too good of an opportunity to pass up. Every other dragon flight possessed abilities that her brethren coveted. The nearly unsurpassed healing and life-giving ability of the red, the arcane immunity and magical prowess of the blue, and the dream-building powers of the green, but it was the ability of the bronze to travel through time that piqued her interest the most.

It was supposed to be a simple and ingenious spell. If, after casting the spell, she is slain within several hours her mind and consciousness would be sent back in time to the moment the spell was cast. Her future self would then merge with her past self, giving her all the knowledge she had learned and allowing her to avoid her death. While it was indeed a remarkable spell, there were a few drawbacks. Extensive tests with captured dragons and younger members of her flight had shown that using the spell more than once within sixty hours caused the user to fade out of existence. She had been lucky several of her spies within Stormwind had remained in place after that blasted human, Windsor, exposed her. It had given her just over an hour to cast the spell before the Alliance raid arrived at her lair. While she had not expected to lose against the mortals, who enraged her to no end as she was beheaded by that damned king, she was not about to let her pride bring an end to her life. So she had cast the spell and waited patiently for the humans and their allies to arrive.

As her head was removed from her body, and her consciousness ejected out and back through time, she realized something had gone wrong. One moment her obsidian scales, which made her virtually immune to fire and magma, felt as if they were burning to ashes while the fluids in her eyes threatened to boil away, and the next the molten blood flowing through her veins slowly freezes from an intense cold that left her on the verge of death. Back and forth the cycle repeated. If her mind hadn't been hardened from countless years of existence and survival she was sure it would have snapped under the constant pain and agony racing through her body.

_"Something's wrong."_

If her draconic body had been able to do so, she would have curled into a ball if only to lessen the pain she felt. She realized that the pain wasn't physical or magical, but instead spiritual in nature. The agony she felt was her own soul being subjected to constant torture, _"He said the spell was ready. The dozens of test subjects showed there was nothing wrong with it. He…he…why can't I remember his name?"_

Her reptilian eyes widened in fear as her memories continued to vanish. While disappearing slowly at first, a couple of forgotten conversations with her flight and greedy nobles, as time or whatever passed for it in the aether continued forth more and more important memories began vanishing. The first time she could breathe molten fire without burning her mouth, the time when she rose through the ranks of the flight to be second in command under the aspect himself, killing the human woman whose guise she would one day take for herself and the creation of the spell itself. Pieces of thousands of years of knowledge slowly flaked away, leaving black spots in the helpless dragon's mind.

"No!" she shouted. Concentrating as best she could, she tried to stifle whatever process was stealing her memories but despite her best efforts, they continued to escape her like water through a sieve.

As the last dredges of her memories left her, taking with it a personality carved over thousands of years, the merciful grasp of unconsciousness finally took her. Blank eyes, eyes that once held a cunning intelligence few on Azeroth could have matched, closed just as she exited the aether and reappeared somewhere over Azeroth.

* * *

...

* * *

Absentmindedly swatting away a persistent fly with the back of his hand, Ichigo scowled. While he had agreed to help these people they had conveniently forgotten to explain what exactly they wanted him to do. All he was told to do was follow the captain out of the keep with the rest of the soldiers while sticking close by. He hadn't heard anything about what he would do. What was the point of having him help if no one was going to explain what they wanted him to do in the first place?

With a resounding sigh, he turned towards the captain, "So are you going to tell me the plan or leave me guessing all day?"

Dathanor lowered his eye from the spyglass he was using to spy on the ogres and frowned. In his suspicion of Ichigo he had forgotten to actually tell the young man what the plan was. His lord had explained before they set off that Ichigo was not to know of the plan no matter the cost. If he happened to be a traitor and managed to pass of their plans to the enemy it would be a disaster for Stromgarde. It might even lead to the final death of the kingdom. Still, the captain wasn't about to let the entire operation falter due to unwarranted paranoia. It would haunt him for however long he had left to live if, in his attempt to stop a spy from disrupting the attack, he caused the battle to be lost simply by withholding information.

"I suppose in my haste I must have forgotten to explain to you what your purpose here is."

While that was a lie, it was also grounded in the truth. On the march out of Stromgarde Keep and out into the highlands, Dathanor's thoughts had been preoccupied with whether or not his plan would succeed. In most other cases he wouldn't be so anxious about it but in this case there were too many variables to account for. With the majority of his soldiers out of the keep Dathanor feared coming back and finding every last man, woman and child slaughtered by the Syndicate. It had taken a bold and risky feint to trick the traitors into believing Stromgarde was mounting an attack on their stronghold.

He also didn't know what the Horde at Hammerfell to the northeast would do upon finding out what was happening. He didn't doubt the forsaken dark rangers already knew about their movements. Undead they may be but it would be foolish to disregard their skills. The only question was whether the Horde would interfere or not. Dathanor couldn't see any reason why they would, the Boulderfist and Witherbark had no love for the Horde and took every opportunity to kill them. Perhaps if he were lucky the Horde would come to assist them against a common enemy.

Dathanor was fortunate that while Kovork was smarter than the average ogre, he had a long way to go to becoming a strategic threat. Kovork may have been able to gather ogres together into a semi-respectable fighting force able to lay siege to the capital but anything beyond that was too complicated. The fact that his force of nearly three hundred men and women was able to completely encircle Kovork's forces attested to that.

"The plan itself is straightforward. The execution will be the problem." Folding up the spyglass, Dathanor subtly motioned with his fingers at several soldiers lying just a couple dozen feet away. With a synchronous nod they began slowly maneuvering around the hill, careful to avoid capturing the attention of the ogres on the other side.

"We are not to begin the assault until Commander Amaren gives the signal."

"Ok," Ichigo nodded and worked out a kink in his neck that had developed over the past hour, "What signal would that be?"

"A goblin rocket," Dathanor was intrigued by Ichigo's lack of reaction, "I take it you haven't encountered goblin engineering before. Goblins may be nearly as innovative as gnomes but they tend to cut corners to drive down the cost, which lead to explosions. When the commander begins her attack on the Witherbark camp to the east, she will send up the rocket to let us know the attack has begun. We need to hit both camps at once, or this attack will falter. So as soon as the rocket appears we charge down there and kill as many ogres as possible, with the primary objective being Kovork. We take his head and the ogre offensive will collapse."

Ichigo nodded silently in agreement but something felt off to him. Despite the captain giving him no reason to suspect anything, Ichigo still didn't trust the bastard. Perhaps it was because he was tricked and temporarily taken prisoner at Stromgarde Keep for no reason aside from suspicion. Ichigo didn't know and, quite frankly, he didn't want to know. This world was strange to him. He hadn't even been here for two days and already he had experienced enough excitement to make him want to settle down if he ever got back.

_"So he still doesn't trust me?"_ Ichigo sneaked a glance at the captain out of the corner of his eye, _"I don't blame him but he could have at least explained himself. Still…where is this Kovork bastard anyway? They all look the same to me."_

"So what does this Kovork guy look like?"

"He'll be slightly larger than the average ogre," the captain answered, his attention focused on the camp in front of them.

Ichigo glanced out at the camp and realized, once again, that all the ogres looked the same to him, "You have to be more specific. That really doesn't help me that much."

"He carries around a hammer the length of your body," Dathanor handed the spyglass to Ichigo, "Look at the far side of the camp near the bonfire."

It didn't take Ichigo long to spot Kovork but when he did, he still couldn't tell him apart from the other ogres. He was slightly larger than the surrounding ogres and carried a large battle hammer but had the same pale yellow skin and blue loincloth as his brethren. Focusing the spyglass as much as he could, Ichigo frowned when he noticed Kovork smacking his fellow ogres while pointing with his other hand. Ichigo could see why Dathanor was worried about this guy. While the rest of the ogres were busy eating, sleeping or wandering around aimlessly, Kovork walked around the camp hitting ogres and telling them where to go.

"Alright then," Ichigo handed the spyglass back and ran a hand through his hair. All the anticipation was beginning to annoy him, "How much longer do we have to wait for this signal anyway?"

"Not much longer."

Despite outward appearances, Dathanor was starting to become rather worried. The signal should have arrived by now. One of the scouts sent to Refuge Pointe reported that Commander Amaren would attack the Witherbark camp at roughly three o'clock. That was nearly half an hour ago and the signal had yet to come.

_"The commander couldn't have been routed before sending it off,"_ Dathanor thought reassuringly, _"The Witherbark tribe isn't that far away. If the battle had already started we would have heard something by now. Something important must have come up that would have caused her to delay the attack."_

His men couldn't wait out here all day for a signal that may or may not come. Every minute wasted was a minute the Syndicate had to realize Stromgarde was essentially defenseless. He would give the commander another twenty minutes before pulling his men back to the keep. If she was still alive, Dathanor was sure she would understand his decision.

As the minutes ticked by and the captain was preparing to pull his men back, a loud bang echoed through the area. Quickly turning around, he saw something shoot up into the sky to the east before exploding hundreds of feet in the air and temporarily changing the deep blue sky to a violent red and orange.

"There's the signal," Dathanor stood up with a grunt and turned towards his men.

"You know what to do. Show these brutes no mercy! Make them regret ever thinking about messing with the children of Stromgarde!" A cacophony of shouting and cheering rose up in response to the captain's speech from the dozens of warriors, paladins, and rogues looking to exact payback against the ogres.

The soldiers were halfway to the ogres before the creatures even realized what was going on. Without their troll allies to heal them or bolster their forces with hundreds of more nimble and smarter warriors, they were caught completely off guard. The ogres closest to the human charge quickly fell before an onslaught of holy and arcane spells while those that had managed through sheer luck to avoid the spells were decimated by strikes from the warriors and vindicators.

Ichigo watched the battle before him with a worried look and put a comforting hand on his zanpakuto. For some strange reason as soon as his hand touched the hilt of his blade, he began to feel slight disapproval for how the battle was being waged but Ichigo couldn't understand why. They were winning with only a few casualties. There should be no reason he was feeling this way, and he quickly squashed the feeling back down to where it came from, Ichigo stood up to go help the soldiers fighting but before he could take a single step he found an arm blocking his path.

"What the hell are you doing?"

"I could ask you the same question," Dathanor answered back.

"I'm going to go help," Ichigo narrowed his eyes and tried to pull free from the captain's grip but he underestimated the man's strength. While he was sure he could easily pull away if he really wanted to, Ichigo still didn't feel like breaking the man's arm in the process.

"No, you're not," Dathanor answered in a tone that brokered no arguments, "I don't trust you Ichigo. Someone with your skill and ability does not simply show up with the excuse that you were simply passing by. You're staying by my side throughout this entire battle. If I see you take one step out of line I'll cut you down where you stand."

"Whatever," with ease Ichigo pulled himself out of Dathanor's grip. While the captain was surprised Ichigo was able to do so, when he saw the shinigami not make a move to leave he relaxed slightly.

"I get that you don't trust me," Ichigo understood that Dathanor, or anyone else of Stromgarde may not trust him, but that didn't make what they were doing right, "I can live with that but your men are dying and you're worried about me? What kind of captain are you?"

"The kind that puts the needs of his men over his own safety!" Dathanor shoved Ichigo until his back hit a tree.

"I've lost many friends to the Syndicate and these beasts," Dathanor stared angrily at Ichigo, who seemed taken aback by the captain's anger, "Lieutenant Valorcall, a man who I had known for over twenty-five years, was killed by agents of the Horde not two months ago. I could have saved him. He was within sight of the keep but if I had done so, if I had put my personal feelings ahead of my kingdom, then everything would have been lost. Nothing I do is for personal gain or glory. If you even suggest that I am selfish enough to sacrifice my men in some paranoid insanity I will kill you."

As the captain released him and backed off, Ichigo rubbed his neck and gazed somberly at the ground, "I didn't mean to suggest that you were like that but like you said, I'm skilled. I could help make a difference."

"I know. That is why you will be coming with me to kill Kovork," Dathanor let out a tired sigh and unconsciously rubbed at the scar running across his cheek, "Although I am loathe to admit it, even to myself, this whole attack is merely a distraction to draw Kovork away from his men. Normally he would be standing in the middle of the largest pack of ogres he can find, making assassinating him nearly impossible. Now, with the entire camp fighting my men, Kovork is alone apart from maybe another ogre or two. We will sneak around back and take him out before he realizes it's a trap. Ichigo, if you help me do this you will have earned my trust."

Without saying a word, Ichigo nodded and followed the captain down the hill and around the camp. Crouching low to the ground in an attempt to stay hidden from unwanted eyes, Ichigo thought he heard a voice speak to him, but despite his best efforts, all it sounded like was a whisper on the wind.


	7. Chapter 7: The Ember within the Flame

_I present to you Chapter 7 of **Rise of the True Death**_**_ God_**_. This chapter took a lot less time to plan and write than the previous one because it started as one chapter that I had to split into two for both plot and pacing reasons. Some of you might be wondering if Ichigo will just be adventuring through Azeroth and being involved in various quest lines during Vanilla WoW. The answer I have to you is yes and now. While he will be involved in various quests and battles that might seem eerily familiar to those of you that are well-versed in Warcraft lore, his presence on Azeroth can be described as a 'for want of a nail' situation. Ichigo's arrival on Azeroth changed everything and will continue to do so, whether he wants to or not._

_Important news! I have been bouncing ideas for Ichigo's zanpakuto's name and powers off my beta reader and we have a new (and original) zanpakuto ready for him when the time comes. I have given the first vague hints about it in the chapter so kudos to anyone that spots them. I spent a lot of time making sure his abilities wouldn't be overpowered because, let's face it, if Yamamoto's bankai was unleashed on Azeroth against someone like the Lich King, it wouldn't be that much of a fight. He only lost to Kil'jaeden because the eredar demon lord recognized the danger the shinigami possessed and immediately went all out and still almost lost._

_A virtual congratulations for General Zargon for beta reading my chapters. I don't know if anyone can find more grammatical errors and mistakes than him._

_I give a virtual salute to the following people for reviewing Chapter 6: **digitalgremlin, crankiestnebula, Shinkicker, Rc1212, Last of the Ancients, TeninChwang, xbox432, lioness2000, Diana, Kazaru13, Takei Daloui, Guest #1, Guest #2, Soulbrow109, Impstar, Zehel2010, ultima-owner, Thantoss413, plums, and JIMMYJAMSTER728**._

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**Rise of the True Death God: Chapter 7**

Kovork lazily adjusted the crude iron helm on his head while scratching his back. He was bored out of his mind. Sniffing and picking up his battle hammer, he ignored his instincts telling him to go and join his brethren in fighting the humans.

The question that had been plaguing the ogre's small mind was why he needed to take the keep in the first place. To Kovork, defensive walls meant nothing more than something to rest one's back on or sleep against. The funny hooded man with the raspy voice had told him that the humans would not be able to get help if he surrounded their city and had the trolls help. Kovork had felt right away that the funny man wasn't normal and ordered two bruisers to kill him. When the funny man avoided their attacks and touched the bruisers on their skin, Kovork watched as they decayed into a pile of green sludge and bones. The funny man had then turned to Kovork and promised the same thing would happen to him if Kovork did not do as he said.

Kovork might be stupid, but he wasn't as stupid as other ogres.

Scratching his back once more and assuming his ogres would eventually crush the humans, Kovork's mind wandered as it usually did when he was bored. Once he dealt with the humans, his ogres would have nothing left to fight. Perhaps he could attack the orcs next? Kovork really _hated _orcs.

A fly was insistently buzzing around his face, causing Kovork to absentmindedly swat it away. As he finally managed to get the insect to leave, a loud bang came from the west. Turning towards the source of the noise, he saw a large light burst up in the air. While he marveled at the pretty colors Boulderfist Outpost, the system of caves his ogres and trolls had so painstakingly built into the hillside to the west, imploded as Stromgarde engineers and rogues snuck inside and detonated goblin explosives inside the various passages. Dozens of trolls and ogres were trapped inside behind tens of feet of rubble and rock and to a slow, grisly fate of death by asphyxiation.

Of course, Kovork didn't know that had happened. When he felt the earth shake after the pretty light went off in the air, he knew something had gone wrong but simply thought it was an accident or perhaps a fight between one of his mages and a troll warlock that got out of hand. As he was about to force several of his ogres to go check it out, a low collective roaring shifted his attention to the south. As his dullish eyes looked around, they spotted hundreds of humans running at his ogres from the surrounding hills.

Without waiting to find out what was happening, Kovork raised his hammer and shouted. His fellow ogres, lazing about or sleeping, took a few moments to realize what was happening. Before they could even begin attacking the humans back, the humans had already cut a lot of them down and began pushing their way around the hill. That would not stand. Turning to one of the two bruisers that always guarded him, Kovork grunted and said, "Tell ogres to fight back. Humans weak and tired."

The bruiser nodded and ran towards the fray, but not before getting the other guard to help him. Kovork had promoted the two bruisers to where they were based on their strength, not intelligence. If the two of them put their empty heads together, Kovork had one average ogre.

Kovork watched the tide of the battle shift back and forth for a couple minutes before he began getting more and more restless. His ogres were not winning, and that was annoying him greatly. Humans were small and weak, weaker than even the orcs and trolls. Ogres should not have trouble fighting. Grabbing his hammer and working out a kink in his shoulder, Kovork was about to go join the battle personally when his acute hearing picked up something rapidly approaching him from the side.

"Huh? What's-"

Something slammed into the side of his face with enough force to knock Kovork's helm clear off his head, exposing his pale yellow flesh and single cracked horn. Stumbling back, a bruise already forming on his cheek from the force of the blow, Kovork rubbed his sore face and turned towards whoever had attacked him.

"Who are you?"

It didn't take more than a second for him to realize his attacker was a human. This human, unlike the others he had fought and killed, wore fancy and shiny armor. Perhaps when he was done here, Kovork would take that shiny armor as a souvenir.

Ichigo watched Kovork gaze at him and massaged the knuckles on the hand he had punched the ogre with. It probably hadn't been the best of ideas to try and punch someone in the face who was wearing armor, especially with a running start. The substitute shinigami watched a couple of emotions pass across the ogre's face, ranging from confusion to glee, before it settled on simply angry. It seemed Kovork was upset that Ichigo had hit him in the face. Well, that was just too bad for him. Sliding his right foot back and clasping a hand around the zanpakuto on his back, Ichigo waited for the inevitable.

"It not matter!" Kovork slammed his battle hammer into the ground in anger. He didn't care that this human attacked him nearly as much as he did the fact that he had been hurt. Many humans had tried attacking him in his life, all of which had met grisly and messy deaths at the hands of his hammer, "Me crush you!"

Ichigo braced himself as Kovork ran towards him. He knew it would hurt, probably a lot, if that hammer hit him. So instead of letting it, he decided to do the next best thing. As the ogre swung his weapon down, Ichigo pivoted to the side and out of the way.

"Huh?" Kovork looked down at the ground. Where was the bloody body of the human he had just squashed? He was sure the human had been standing here just a second ago, so where could he have gone?

"Looking for me?"

Kovork swung his hammer through where he had heard the human's voice mock him, but Ichigo easily ducked under the powerful, but slow, attack.

When Ichigo leapt back slightly to avoid the crushing blow from his hammer, Kovork was just about ready to lose it. He had lost track of how many times he had attacked the human and missed, but it definitely had been more than five times. The ogre's normally dull and bored eyes stared at Ichigo, full of anger, with the unspoken promise of pain and suffering if he should ever catch the human. Taking a moment to catch his breath after swinging his heavy weapon around, Kovork took a step towards Ichigo and had his jaw nearly shattered when Dathanor slammed his shield into his face.

"That hurt!"

As he stumbled back disoriented, Kovork couldn't remember when he had felt this much pain in his life. With the large amount of pain he was feeling distracting him, Kovork was forced to swing his hammer around randomly while his other hand gripped his face like a vice, as if simply holding the wound would make the pain stop.

"Are you alright Ichigo?"

"I'm fine," Ichigo answered the captain while dodging to the side as the hammer came crashing through the air, "But this guy's attacks were a lot easier to avoid before you smashed half of his face in."

"I would apologize…" Dathanor ducked under a swing. He may have a shield but that would do little to protect him from an ogre's attack. It might stop him from being killed, but his arm would shatter in the process, "…but usually that works out better than this. Kovork is really as tough as he looks."

"This not fair!" Kovork shouted upon seeing a second human alongside the first, his damaged jaw giving a slight slur to his speech. Stomping his feet angrily on the ground, he said, "Me even odds!"

Ichigo and Dathanor shared a perplexed look at Kovork's words, but both of their eyes widened as a series of loud and heavy footsteps rushed towards them. Thanks to his shinigami-assisted reflexes, Ichigo managed to avoid the fist slamming into the ground but was forced to use his zanpakuto as an impromptu shield to deflect the follow-up punch. As Ichigo sailed backwards through the air unharmed, Dathanor was not as fortunate. While he had managed to avoid the initial killing blow, he was unprepared for the ogre's fist slamming into his chest and throwing him through the air.

Landing back on the ground, his feet skidding to a stop, Ichigo watched the captain sail through the air, "Dathanor!"

Ichigo pushed off the ground and sprinted towards where he had seen Dathanor crash. He hadn't expected a second ogre to come so quickly, and Ichigo wasn't sure the captain could take on an ogre all by himself. As he ran across the grass, Ichigo sensed something approaching and dodged to the side just as Kovork's weapon sunk into the ground where he would have been.

"Shiny human no interfere," Kovork slurred out. While an ogre usually bowed in submission to someone who had bested them in a contest of strength or size, Kovork's intelligence demanded that he never submit to a human or orc. He was only following that funny sounding hooded man's orders because if he didn't, Kovork would die and Kovork did not want to die.

Ichigo was about to charge forward when a familiar voice shouted, "Don't worry about me. I'll be fine. Taking care of Kovork is the one thing that matters!"

With a pained grunt, Dathanor used his shield as a crutch to get back onto his feet. The captain had taken some damage from the ogre's attack but it was nothing he wasn't used to. As long as he didn't willingly get hit again he would be fine. Spitting out a wad of blood, he drew his sword and stared at the ogre bruiser. The ogre glared at the captain for a second before screaming and charging. Dathanor waited until the last moment before twisting to the side, allowing the ogre to pass by harmlessly while, at the same time, burying his sword deep into its side.

"I'll be fine Ichigo!" He shouted to the orange-haired youth. Ducking beneath the enraged ogre's fist, Dathanor was forced to block a second attack with his shield, the protective metal visibly denting from the intense force, "Focus on the objective! Nothing else matters!"

"Damn it!" Ichigo cursed as he tried to think of a way to help the captain without having to deal with Kovork first, but nothing came to mind despite his efforts. Realizing what he had to do, he rushed at the ogre, "I guess I just have to go through you first!"

Ichigo pushed off the ground as Kovork's hammer quickly occupied the space where he had just been. The ogre was quite fast for his size, but it was nothing that Ichigo couldn't handle. Spinning around in midair and using a technique that Tatsuki had used on him more than once, Ichigo tried to plant his foot in Kovork's face, more specifically his broken jaw.

"Not going to work!" Kovork gloated while bringing his hammer up to stop Ichigo's foot.

Realizing he was running out of time, Ichigo grit his teeth, "Like hell that is going to stop me!"

As soon as his foot touched the ground once again, Ichigo pivoted around and swung upwards with his zanpakuto, cleaving straight through Kovork's weapon. It took the ogre a couple of seconds to realize what had just happened but when he did, Kovork looked like he was about to cry.

"You broke hammer…" Kovork sulked at the loss of his weapon. That hammer had been his for so long that he could barely remember what it was like before he tore it out of the cold and dead hands of the previous chief of the tribe. Now that same hammer was in two pieces, each clasped in a different hand. Gritting his teeth in rage, he tossed both pieces of his weapon to the ground and charged at Ichigo, "Me crush you!"

Kovork's anger must have boosted his speed because Ichigo was unable to react in time before the ogre's large hands closed around his body. As Ichigo struggled to get free, Kovork raised him off the ground and began squeezing in an attempt to strangle the life out of Ichigo.

"Ha ha, me crush tiny human!"

Seeing that struggling wasn't working, Ichigo thought of another idea. Leaning backwards and swinging his legs up, Ichigo drove the points of his knees directly into Kovork's chin with a bone-jarring crunch. The ogre, who had already suffered two injuries to his face, let loose a howl of pain and released Ichigo in order to grab his throbbing face.

"Damn human," Kovork's speech was barely legible by this point, the many injuries his jaw had sustained finally catching up to him. While Ichigo strained to understand what Kovork was saying, the ogre wiped away a thin trail of red drool that had been dribbling out from between several of his misshapen teeth. Swaggering around for a few seconds while his sense of balance slowly returned to him, Kovork eventually picked up the top half of the splintered remains of his weapon and slurred, "I kill you!"

While Ichigo was well prepared for anything Kovork could throw at him, as long as it wasn't another ogre or two, he was distracted by a nearby shout of pain. Dathanor had quickly recovered from the initial surprise attack and was putting up one hell of a fight against the ogre bruiser, if its' many bleeding wounds meant anything, but it was clear that he was slowly but surely losing. The shield on his left arm, the one that had the emblem of Stromgarde emblazoned upon its shining polished surface, had been discarded and lay off to the side, a misshapen lump of metal that had been unfortunate enough to block one of the bruiser's attacks. He may have been smarter and more agile than the ogre he was fighting, but he did not have the strength or the endurance to keep up his current place for much longer.

"_I don't have much time. Dathanor's on his last legs,"_ Ichigo glanced back at Kovork, who he noticed was reaching for the top half of his weapon, which had been thrown on the ground earlier. Realizing he had no choice, Ichigo reached over his shoulder and gripped his zanpakuto. Slowing pulling the large blade out of its sheath, he took a calming breath to steady his nerves; _"I don't have time to stall. If I don't kill this guy, Dathanor will die. There are no ifs, ands, or buts about what I need to do."_

Kovork charged at Ichigo, all the while roaring and spitting out blood and saliva. When Ichigo didn't move in response, his head hanging downwards and shadows covering his eyes, Kovork became confused and, for the first time, slightly worried. He couldn't understand why the human, the only one to ever hurt him using nothing but physical strength wasn't doing anything. He couldn't comprehend this but, in his injured state, all he cared about was causing as much pain and suffering to Ichigo as he possibly could.

"Die!"

There was a loud crash accompanied by a cloud of dust as Kovork swung his weapon with enough force to shatter stone. He didn't become chief of the Boulderfist ogres just because he happened to be smarter than everyone else. His arm trembling from the force exerted, Kovork wiped a trail of blood on his forearm.

"That teach tiny human…huh?"

There was something wrong. Instead of blood and guts splattered everywhere on the ground, he felt something blocking his hammer from moving. As the smoke and dust cleared enough for Kovork's eyes to finally see what was going on, he saw that Ichigo had blocked his hammer with just the blade of his zanpakuto, his head facing downwards and orange hair covering his eyes.

"I'm sorry…" Ichigo tilted his head up and looked at Kovork, who noticed his brown eyes had begun to glow with a faint blue light, "But I can't hold back any more."

Kovork didn't know what was going on, but when he involuntarily shivered as a stiff breeze suddenly came into existence, his instincts were screaming at him to flee from the human in front of him. While his instincts were telling him to do that, his mind was doing the opposite in trying to convince him that Ichigo was merely another human, probably a paladin or something, and was not that much of a threat. Steeling his nerves, and ignoring the sense of danger that he felt, Kovork took a step back and raised his hammer above his head for another strike. This time the human in the shiny armor won't be able to stop it.

A faint sheen surrounded Ichigo zanpakuto, giving it a soft white appearance. As Kovork brought his hammer down, Ichigo swung upwards with his zanpakuto. The blade easily bifurcated the ogre's weapon like it was nothing more than paper before continuing on and cutting through Kovork's flesh from shoulder to hip in a spray of blood

"Guh!"

Pain. Kovork felt nothing but pain as Ichigo's zanpakuto carved through his flesh. Weakly stepping back, one blood-covered hand held over his wound, Kovork was lucky ogres were covered in a thick layer of muscle and fat. The wound may have looked serious, but it had failed to damage any of his organs. Raising a shaking free hand at Ichigo, Kovork took a few steps forward to kill the human when he felt something pierce through his stomach and out his back.

"What…this?"

Kovork stood there, with his arms outstretched, and looked down. Ichigo was standing in front of him with his zanpakuto skewered through the ogre completely up to the hilt. In his weakened state, Kovork had failed to notice the shinigami approach him before it was too late to do anything. The Boulderfist chief looked down at the human and tried to say something, only for a gurgle of blood to come out of his mouth. A few seconds later Kovork toppled backwards onto the ground with a loud crash, his last thought being why he felt so cold.

Ichigo stood there, his zanpakuto still extended away from his body and covered in Kovork's blood, for several seconds before lowering his blade until it rested softly on the grass. Something had felt different about his last attack. He did not understand why, but something had happened when he slashed at Kovork. There had been a faint voice, what gender it was he couldn't tell, that had whispered to him to kill the ogre as quickly and efficiently as possible. Thoughts like that made Ichigo nervous but in the end it had come down to either him or Kovork and a lot was riding on the outcome.

"_That voice though,"_ Ichigo frowned when he noticed Kovork's wounds weren't leaking blood, as they should have been. If anything, the blood seemed to have coagulated much too quickly to be normal, _"I couldn't tell who it was, but it somehow sounded familiar, like an old friend."_

"I see you…managed to kill Kovork…"

Ichigo turned and saw Dathanor slowly making his way towards him. The captain had certainly seen better days. His armor was covered in dents and his left arm hung limply at his side. Spitting out a wad of bloody spit, Dathanor glanced at Kovork's corpse before turning to Ichigo, "Nice job."

"You look like hell."

"I'm fine for the most part, but thanks for your concern," Dathanor chuckled before grimacing in pain. Roughly sitting down on the hillside, he began fiddling with the straps of his armor, "Did you think an old man like me couldn't take on an ogre by himself?"

"Well…" Ichigo scratched the back of his neck in embarrassment. Turning away from the captain, Ichigo noticed that the ogre that had blindsided them earlier was lying dead on the ground with its head several feet away from its body.

"Ogres are strong but incredibly stupid," Dathanor finished fiddling with his armor and, with a relieved sigh mixed with a grunt of pain, unbuckled the armor on his left arm, letting the protective steel plates and gauntlet fall to the ground. While examining his broken arm, he continued speaking, "The moment they think they've won, they begin gloating. It took me a while but eventually that bastard made the mistake of underestimating me. The results, well, you can see for yourself."

Ichigo was impressed. He had thought that a normal human couldn't fight an ogre, but Dathanor had proved him wrong, "Do you need a hand or something?"

Dathanor shook his head in the negative, "This isn't my first broken arm. A quick trip to a priest and I'll be good as new by tomorrow morning, but if you really want to offer your assistance, you can help me get to my men. I'm sure they're beginning to wonder if I'm dead or not."

Ichigo nodded and grabbed the captain's good arm before wrapping it around his shoulder. As they slowly made their way across the hills, Ichigo realized that the sounds of fighting were beginning to abate. While just a few minutes ago he could hear people shouting and ogres roaring, a quiet and semi-peaceful silence had moved in, only broken apart by a random ogre being put out of its misery.

As they walked through the battlefield, Ichigo took a moment to look over the dozens of ogre corpses interspaced with soldiers that had sacrificed their lives to stop the Boulderfist from destroying everything. Ichigo watched as several Stromgarde soldiers carefully walked through the field of corpses, investigating every ogre corpse before moving on.

"It looks like I might have been wrong about you."

"Huh?" Ichigo turned around and looked at the captain, "What are you talking about?"

Dathanor grimaced as pain lanced through his arm, "The death of Kovork is the first major victory Stromgarde has achieved since its fall. With the ogres and trolls defeated, we can begin the process of reclaiming the highlands and taking vengeance on those that would see us destroyed."

Ichigo hadn't expected Dathanor to just flat out apologize to him. He was left speechless for a moment before he asked, "What is going to happen to the ogres?"

"They will be executed," Dathanor's eyes glanced over and saw a perplexed and confused look adorning Ichigo's face, "Do not get me wrong Ichigo. I am not doing this out of some perverse pleasure. The Boulderfist, and all ogres in general, respect one thing above all else – strength. If we do not kill them all, they will see that as a sign of weakness and continue to harass us, even if they do not have the numbers to do what they have done today. The harassment will continue until they eventually gather more allies like the Witherbark. Our safety and prosperity is dependent on the Boulderfist being wiped off the face of Azeroth."

"I guess I understand," Ichigo saw the logic in Dathanor's explanation but that did not mean he liked it, "But I-"

"Captain Dathanor!"

Several soldiers, fresh off the battle and sporting various wounds of their own, were running towards them. Adjusting himself on Ichigo's shoulder so he didn't look quite as pathetic, Dathanor suppressed a groan of pain and asked, "What is it?"

One of the soldiers snapped a salute and responded, "I bring you word from both Commander Amaren and Captain Ariana."

Dathanor's shoulders stiffened and he pushed himself off Ichigo, "What do they say?"

"The Witherbark resistance to the east has been completely crushed with minimal casualties," the soldier answered enthusiastically. It appeared to the captain that this was one of the newer recruits, one of the youths that had come up from Stormwind in the last year to help fight against those oppressing them, "Commander Amaren is on her way back to the capital but the captain is staying back to get her wounds treated."

One of the other soldiers, seeing the captain's unanswered question, spoke up, "The captain's face was hit by a warlock's curse. The priest attending to her wounds reports she will be fine but was unfortunately unable to save her eye. The captain…didn't seem too upset about being told she would be wearing an eye patch."

Of course she wouldn't. Dathanor knew that Ariana had always thought eye patches were, as she said, cool. To actually be forced to wear one after a major battle like this must have made her day, "Thank you for the update. What is the situation with the Boulderfist?"

"Most of the ogres have been neutralized, as per standard procedure," the same soldier answered, "Several have been seen fleeing into the surrounding hills but teams have already been sent out in pursuit. It shouldn't take more than an hour for the remaining ogres to be dealt with."

The pain in Dathanor's arm, which up until then had been relieved by the amount of endorphins rushing through his blood, suddenly doubled in intensity, "I thank you for your report soldier but, if you do not mind, I need to see a priest about my broken arm."

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"Who is this Ichigo?"

From where he was currently sitting, Dathanor tore his eyes briefly away from the large map of the Arathi Highlands to reply, "I don't know."

"You don't know?" Commander Amaren arched a single eyebrow at the answer, or lack thereof. One would expect someone of her rank and experience to be a little more anxious about a potential spy or assassin in the city but Amaren was never one to show anything besides annoyance. While her features remained schooled and her face locked in an expressionless mask, she was actually quite upset, "What are you implying, Dathanor?"

"There is very little we know about Ichigo other than his name," Dathanor paused to readjust the sling his left arm was in. While the priest had healed his broken arm, he had been ordered to keep the limb in a sling for the rest of the day as a precaution. The downside to healing broken limbs was that, while the bones were easily repaired, the nerves weren't. Even if the arm was perfectly fine, the nerves in the limb would continue to report the slightly bit of pressure as an intense pain for at least twelve hours, hence the sling. Though, Dathanor shrugged his shoulder in an attempt to adjust the sling, he really wished it wasn't made of wool.

"Surely there is more to this man?" Amaren circled around the central table in the old church until she was standing right in front of the captain, "You said this Ichigo arrived from the west, which means he could only have come from Hillsbrad."

"And he carried the Commander Redpath's official seal," Dathanor finished for her, "Ichigo might not have said anything about himself but, if we assume everything he carries is authentic, he is quite well-travelled."

Commander Amaran leaned back against the table, "Someone like Ichigo, who possesses the strength and endurance to fight a fully-grown ogre like Kovork single-handedly doesn't appear out of nowhere. There has to be records of someone like him. Perhaps the Stormwind archives might hold the answers we seek. Have you considered sending a rider to Southshore to verify the validity of the seal?"

Dathanor nodded, "Of course, I sent one as soon as Ichigo met with the prince and myself. Unfortunately, the distance to Southshore and the forsaken presence in Hillsbrad will prevent the scout from returning until late tomorrow morning, which presents a problem. Ichigo is insistent on leaving as soon as possible."

"What did you tell him?" Ichigo's insistence on leaving Stromgarde was not that suspicious in and of itself, but the circumstances surrounding it made Amaren curious as to his motivations. Ichigo had killed Kovork, there was no doubt to that claim, but someone like him, who crippled the Boulderfist tribe nearly singlehandedly, to want to avoid praise and accolades was unlike anything she ever expected.

Amaren was glad she was back in Stromgarde and away from Refuge Pointe. The Light help her if she had to listen to another group of adventurers trying to brown nose her in order to join the battle for the Arathi Basin. It was disappointing to see members of the Alliance, day in and day out, more concerned with fighting the Horde over a scrap of land than helping Stromgarde take back the highlands.

She considered herself fortunate that Maximus was more than willing to take up control of the League of Arathor. The league was originally founded by a group of surviving Stromgarde soldiers, Amaren among them, to take back the highlands. Over time, with the forsaken pushing from the north and the Horde taking over Hammerfell, that goal shifted towards the strategic Arathi Basin. At the time, the basin had both fertile fields and rich mines to exploit. Whichever faction could take permanent, or even temporary, control of the basin would gain valuable resources that could be used to push the other faction out of the highlands entirely.

But now, after nearly eighteen months of constant fighting, the basin bore little resemblance to what it had once been. Fertile fields were replaced with pockmarked landscapes created by magical clashes between the Horde and Alliance. The mines, the same ones that had produced tones of gold, silver and mithril, were destroyed, buried by gnome engineers determined to prevent the Horde from gaining those resources. Still, despite having no more value, the League of Arathor continued to imply to the Alliance that the basin was of strategic importance to the fight against the Horde. Amaren was starting to get sick of their hypocrisy and therefore, left the league the moment Stromgarde had fallen back into their hands.

"The truth, of course."

With a small amount of effort, made all the more difficult with the use of only his right arm, Dathanor pushed himself out of his chair. He really hated feeling as weak and helpless as he did at this moment, "Actually, it was more of a half-truth. I informed Ichigo that even with the Boulderfist defeated, it would take at least the rest of the day and most of the night to send soldiers out to as far away as the Thandol Span and clean up any ogre and troll stragglers. With how late in the day it was, I offered him the chance to eat and sleep before leaving tomorrow morning."

Amaren brought a hand up to her chin, as she tended to do when deep in though, "The Thandol Span…Ichigo must be going to the Wetlands."

Ichigo had come from Hillsbrad, so unless he felt like climbing over the mountains to the north to get to the Hinterlands, the Thandol Span was the only place he would want to go. The only question remaining was Ichigo's endgame. He kept saying he needed to go to Stormwind but when anyone tried to get anything else out of him, he shut up or changed the subject. Ichigo was hiding something, but Amaren did not know what it was.

"Captain, what is your take on his story? Do you believe this Ichigo possesses no ill-intentions?"

"Are you asking for my opinion on the matter?" At Amaren's nod, Dathanor paused for a moment before answering, "I'd be surprised if everything about Ichigo turns out to be a fabrication. I don't see someone like him waltzing into a potentially hostile environment with such a flimsy story unless it was the truth. I agree that Ichigo is hiding something from us, but I don't think we'll find out what it is unless we ask him."

"I see," Amaren seemed perturbed by the lack of an actual answer more than anything, but the commander seemed to quickly get over her irritation. The matter of Ichigo's affiliation, while an important topic, would have be put on hold for the moment. That did not mean she was going to let him have free reign through Stromgarde. As commander of all Stromgarde forces, she had authorized several rogues to keep tabs on Ichigo at a safe distance. The boy had already demonstrated the ability to detect rogues at close range. Amaren hoped his perception didn't extend much further than that.

"Have you received the latest updates on Captain Ariana's progress against the Syndicate forces in the city?"

Dathanor _hadn't_ heard anything about it. He had assumed they wouldn't move against the Syndicate until at least the morrow, "I thought Ariana was resting after losing her eye."

"Captain Ariana specifically requested being put back on the front as quickly as she could be healed. Unlike your arm, her eye was unrecoverable," Amaran trailed off as the subject of discussion became more somber, "I knew how much you wished to take part in this operation, but you and I both know that the Syndicate needs to be cut down at the first opportunity. The Syndicate expects us to have the bare minimum amount of soldiers you have been forced to work with. They will not expect an entire army to descend upon them."

While Dathanor was annoyed he had not been informed of the assault against the Syndicate, he understood the commander's reasoning. The Syndicate, for all their faults and treacheries, would have found out the outcome of the battle against the ogres and trolls by the next morning. They would have known just how strong Stromgarde had become and would have prepared accordingly. To not act when the element of surprise was at the greatest would be folly.

Amaren noticed the conflicted emotions passing across the captain's eyes and said, "If it is any consolation, the latest reports indicate the assault is moving along on schedule."

She passed a folded message to Dathanor across the table. The captain picked it up with his good arm and quickly read through it, "I see she already took back the old residential district with minimal casualties."

The old residential district had been one of the first sections of Stromgarde built and had become a stronghold of the Boulderfist and Witherbark trolls. With both groups decimated to nearly the point of extinction within the highlands, the district had emptied out, allowing Ariana and her forces to quickly move in and occupy it. Only a slight scattering of curious Syndicate rogues had been present but they had been easily dealt with.

As he read through the report, Dathanor noticed something missing, "Strange, she doesn't mention anything about the state of the Syndicate."

Amaren reached over and tossed a sack to Dathanor. As the captain tentatively reached out to grab it, she began speaking, "I believe this will answer your query. While Ariana secured the residential district, Captain Nials moved against the Syndicate in the central keep. We must have surprised them to a greater extent than we thought, because we came across someone really special just after breaking through their front lines."

Whatever the commander was saying was lost to Dathanor, who had drowned out everything around him as he opened the bag and stared at the contents within. Sitting inside, with a perpetual expression of pain and terror, was the head of the chief bodyguard of Falconcrest and murderer of dozens of good men and women, Otto.

"So the bastard is finally dead."

The hatred Dathanor held for Otto was deep and had a long history. Falconcrest, the self-styled 'lord' of Stromgarde, hadn't always had the foothold he possessed. When the Syndicate first moved into the city, their position was very weak with the front lines between Syndicate and Stromgarde-held territory shifting by the hour. Dathanor, a lieutenant at the time, had been in charge of an anti-Syndicate mobile squad. They were to go after targets of high importance, such as Syndicate leaders, strategists, and assassins, and take them out before they could do the same to Stromgarde. Back then Falconcrest had been the third or fourth most important target on his list and Dathanor had been sure the bastard would be captured soon.

One day, an anonymous report arrived from a proclaimed Syndicate defector. The report said that Falconcrest would be attempting to leave the city to head into Hillsbrad for reinforcements. Without thinking of whether the report was a fabrication, Dathanor had gathered his unit and proceeded out. He only had one shot to take Falconcrest out. While it was most likely a trap, Dathanor had gotten a rather good grasp of Falconcrest's mind and knew the bastard would be there regardless. Unfortunately for Dathanor, while he expected a trap, he hadn't expected a traitor to be the one to plunge the dagger in his back.

Major Otto, one of the staunchest opponents of the Syndicate, had betrayed Stromgarde for the very people he was supposed to hate. The bastard had killed half of his squad before Dathanor knew what was going on, leaving Dathanor to barely escape back to Stromgarde territory with his life.

"We hit the Syndicate far faster than they could have anticipated. Nials reported that he came across the bastard as they pushed up towards the central keep. The traitor tried to flee inside but several archers managed to cripple him before the captain removed his head from his body. Unfortunately, Falconcrest remains holed up tight in the central keep with an unknown amount of his men protecting him. With most of the city back under our control, we are planning to take our time in taking out Falconcrest but I expect his head to be mounted on a pike outside Trollbane Bridge by the end of the week."

"While I'm relieved Otto has finally paid for his crimes, I find myself surprised it took so long. How many times did Nials ask adventurers to take care of him and Falconcrest for us?"

"Too many to count," Amaren sighed with a tired shrug, "I don't know whether they were simply unable to accomplish the task or gave up, but in the end Otto is dead and the Syndicate is about to be crushed. There is a slight problem though. By tomorrow, word will no doubt reach the rest of the Syndicate forces in the highlands about what has happened in Stromgarde. I do not doubt that they will try and infiltrate the city to take back what they believe is theirs. Captain, I want you to gather up our men and send them out to known Syndicate holdouts. If peace and stability is to return to Arathi, we must take no prisoners."

"What about the Horde?" Dathanor leaned on the table and covered his mouth with his hand; "I do not think the Horde in Hammerfell to the northeast will take kindly to our renewed strength. The forsaken, in particular, have a vested interest in a ruined or destroyed Stromgarde. How many times have we caught undead rogues and assassins trying to sneak into the part of the city that we controlled? I don't think we have more than a day, maybe two if we're lucky, before the Horde is fully aware of what has happened."

"Actually, it's much worse than that," Amaran responded solemnly, "I didn't want to raise the alarm, but nearly an hour ago a sentry spotted a forsaken rogue attempting to enter the city. While he was summarily executed, it is safe to assume that the forsaken are fully aware, or will be soon, of what has transpired."

That was possibly the worst news Dathanor could hear. Reconstruction would be difficult enough on its own, but with the added trouble of the forsaken actively trying to kill them, or worse, they needed to act fast.

"If there is one thing I have learned about the forsaken, it is that most of them are cocky and arrogant when it comes to the living," Amaren paused for a moment as she rifled through several papers scattered on the table, "They will not think twice about a human being able to spot them while they're stealthed. We can use that arrogance to our advantage."

"What about Hammerfell?"

"I have discussed the matter at great length with our lord," Amaren answered, "And he said that as long as the Horde does not work against us, there is no reason to go after them. The forsaken however, there can be no quarter for the undead. Actively trying to improve the plague that wiped out most of Lordaeron…have they lost the rest of their minds? Our lord has ordered us to leave all members of the Horde, apart from the forsaken, alone for the moment."

Amaren turned away from Dathanor and back to her plans, "You should go and get some rest captain. You've had a long day and, quite frankly, you look like shit."

Dathanor chuckled and walked out of the old church and onto the streets of Stromgarde. Stopping a few feet from the building and looking around, Dathanor could tell that everyone was in high spirits after the day's events. With the ogres routed and the Syndicate almost defeated, it was as if the morale and life had begun to return to the area. He remembered when the streets used to be full of happy and worry-free people and it looked like those days would be coming back soon.

* * *

...

* * *

Silana dismounted the vampire bat, a specially bred mount specifically made for dark rangers, and immediately breathed in the damp air that drifted down from the Alterac Mountains and clung to Tarren Mill throughout most of the year. Closing her eyes and letting her senses expand through the surrounding forest and town, she walked passed the bat handler, who was shocked at seeing a dark ranger of Silana's standing in front of her, and towards Tarren Mill.

There was something about Tarren Mill that made Silana feel at home. She remembered vividly the high elven architecture of Quel'thalas and Silvermoon, but years of life in the Undercity had gotten her used to more drab settings. Walking around the town, ignoring the stares and whispers from the forsaken around her, she made her way towards the old church. The building had once been a bastion of the Light but now it was nothing more than a structure to house the darkness. Silana found that quite ironic.

"Well, if it isn't the great Silana herself, here to grace us with her presence," A raspy voice mocked from the shadows, "What brings you out to this little slice of paradise?"

Silana ignored the quip, "Don't be coy, Darthalia. You know quite well the reason why I am here."

"True," Darthalia held her arm out and gave a mock curtsy. As the two women, one a deathguard and the other a dark ranger, entered the former church, Darthalia grimaced, "This is about that human that somehow managed to permanently kill Frederick, isn't it? While Frederick was a tad unhinged, even for a forsaken, I find myself disturbed by what this human can do. Just the thought of being killed like that sends a chill through my bones. But before I tell you what you want to know, I have a question of my own. Tell me, what happened to dear old Marco when he reported his failings to the Dark Lady?"

Silana frowned within the shadow of her hood, "Despite allowing the Alliance to gain knowledge and possession of a potent sample of the New Plague, the Dark Lady has allowed him to live."

What was it about Marco that had the Dark Lady's interest? Silana had spent weeks following him when he was in the Undercity, hoping to witness some ability or power that would allow her lady to constantly spare his meaningless life, but time and time again he didn't show anything more than what the average forsaken could accomplish.

"That is such a shame," Darthalia said sarcastically. She would have liked nothing more than to see Marco Ghoulstomper tied up before being dismembered, lit on fire and beheaded, or the victim of any number of other heinous tortures. Some would say she was a sadistic bitch who took pleasure in the pain and suffering of others. To those that do, Darthalia would politely thank them for the compliment before stabbing them in the heart.

"I would have paid gold to see him die. But look on the bright side, eventually his favor with the Dark Lady will run out. One can only deal with failure so many times. When the day comes that the Dark Lady moves on from Marco, odds are you'll be the one to kill him."

"I suppose," Silana muttered before getting back onto the topic at hand, "What do you know about this human? I have a feeling Marco wasn't exactly forthcoming to the Dark Lady with information."

"Honestly, nothing more than what you already know," When Silana's eyes narrowed in anger, Darthalia quickly continued, "But do not fret. I think I know of someone who does. A couple of hours ago a group of adventurers arrived in town. By their ragged and bloody appearances, I say they had a nasty run in with the Syndicate to the south. I would have simply ignored them like I always do, but one of them mentioned something odd. It was an offhand remark, one that I wouldn't have caught if Marco hadn't said the same thing. As they passed by, one mentioned something about a human with orange hair."

So there was an actual witness. Hopefully they were still in Tarren Mill, "Where can I find these adventurers?"

"The last I've heard, they're in Shay's inn down the street," Darthalia answered and turned away from the dark ranger, "Now if there is nothing else you require, I need to go prevent Lydon from destroying the town. I swear by the Dark Lady, ever since that human stole Jorell's notes on the plague he has been preoccupied with revenge but if that damned apothecary blows up another building, I'll tear his damn arms off."

Silana nodded politely to Darthalia and left the confines of the church. Walking down the street, her hood pulled over her head in order to cast her face in shadows and hide her identity from anyone curious onlookers, Silana approached the inn. Unlike the rest of Tarren Mill, the inn was the only building that the living visited with any real frequency. With the town the last stop before the Undercity and the Plaguelands to the north, the other races of the Horde tended to stop and stay for the night before leaving in the morning.

Pushing open the door, Silana walked inside and immediately the rambunctious and loud atmosphere quieted down. Apparently every member of the Horde knew the reputation of a dark ranger. Smirking coldly from within the shadows of her hood, Silana turned away from the main crowd and walked towards the bar, where an undead was busy serving drinks to several customers. One of the customers, a tauren, turned around and saw Silana making her way towards them. Nudging his friend in the shoulder, he and everyone else at the bar quickly moved out of the way.

"A dark ranger, huh?" the undead behind the bar grumbled as he cleaned a mug, "Every time one of you show up, business drops off for the day. The name's Shay and, if I may ask, what brings you to my lovely inn?"

"Lovely, yes," Silana repeated sarcastically and sat down on one of the now empty stools, her toned legs crossed over one another and her bow, a gift from Lady Sylvanas, placed carefully across her lap. She had always found sitting with a bow strapped to her back highly uncomfortable, "While I would _love_ to chat, I'm here on official business of the Dark Lady."

Shay's attitude quickly changed. Slowly putting down the mug as well as the rag he was using to clean it, he asked, "In that case, what can I help you with?"

"Several of your more recent patrons have been heard talking about a target of interest of the Dark Lady. It would be beneficial for you to point them out for me."

"I'm afraid I can't do that," Shay shook his head in the negative, "I don't really pay attention to who comes and goes. All I care about is whether their gold is good or not."

Silana was quiet for a moment before whispering, more to herself than to Shay, "I see…"

What followed next were several deafening seconds of silence, each of which made Shay increasing nervous. While he didn't believe every rumor that happened to pass through his inn, he knew, more from experience than anything else, that an angry dark ranger was a terrible thing to behold. If someone got on the wrong side of a dark ranger, the chances of them living another week were quite remote. While Shay was quite certain he hadn't done anything wrong, Silana's line of questioning implied that this human had wronged the Dark Lady in some way and he did not want to find out.

Fortunately for Shay, and his inn, Silana had no intention of taking her frustration out on him. She had a much better idea, and it would get her much more reliable results. Spinning around on the stool and standing up, she turned to the rest of the inn, "Somewhere around here is a human that has caught the attention of the Dark Lady. I have been sent by her to deal with him personally. He is described as being fairly young in appearance with vibrant orange hair. If anyone has information that leads to his death or capture, you will receive a reward from Lady Sylvanas herself. Fifty gold if your information leads to his death and one hundred if it leads to his capture."

While Silana let her words sink into the patrons of the inn, her eyes were already looking around. While she would have preferred someone speaking up and saving her the time, she didn't need them to. Thanks to years of training as a ranger, she was able to read facial expressions of every race, except taurens. Something about them always made it extremely difficult to tell what they were thinking. A quick glance showed an orc's eyes drop ever so slightly at the mention of the human's hair color.

"_Well, well, well…what do we have here?"_

With a sly and knowing smirk, Silana walked across the bar towards the table. With her face still hidden by her hood, she looked around at the two trolls and orc sitting down, "You look like you might know something about this human I'm searching for."

"A human, huh?" Taruk grunted, unperturbed by the threatening aura Silana was emitting. Leaning his head back and finishing off the rest of his Southshore Stout, Taruk wiped his mouth off and looked Silana square in the eye, "Say I do know something about this human. What do I get if I tell you what I know?"

Silana smiled coldly under her hood, the shadows helping to accentuate the expression. Adventurers were so predictable. All one has to do is offer them enough gold and they'll do anything you ask of them. It was almost pathetic, "Like I said, you will get a reward of gold if-"

"I don't want gold," Taruk interrupted, much to Silana's chagrin, "I have enough gold. I want something more tangible."

"Very well," Silana ground out without raising her voice, "If your information pans out, I will return and negotiate the terms of your reward."

Taruk seemed to mull over the terms for a few seconds before shrugging and slamming his mug down on the table, "You got yourself a deal, elf. I've seen this human you're talking about. Bright orange hair, a permanent scowl on his face, and the largest set of-"

"Spare me the details," Silana interrupted, "Just tell me where he went."

"Huh, you must have a weak stomach," Taruk chuckled and motioned with his hand for Shay to refill his mug, "We ran into this human at Durnholde Keep. Didn't get along with him but, since he helped us out of a tight spot, decided to go our separate ways without killing him."

"You let him go?" Silana asked in surprise, her glowing blue eyes trying to bore a hole through Taruk's skull, "I would have thought an orc like you would have killed him for being a human."

"I have honor and pride," Taruk countered gruffly and with annoyance, "An orc doesn't stab those that help him in the back, no matter what race they are. If I had turned around and killed this human, the honor of my family for the next three generations would have been tarnished."

Taruk stopped for a moment as Shay quickly brought over a new mug of Southshore Stout. Taking a swig from the beverage, he asked, "So, what did this human do?"

"That's none of your business," Silana warned, "If you are toying with me…"

"Yeah, yeah," Taruk waved her threat off before continuing, "This human, when we parted ways, mentioned something about heading into the Arathi Highlands for some business. That's all I know."

That was all she needed to know to begin tracking down this human. Smirking in anticipation of what was to come, she turned around and moved towards the exit without saying another word to Taruk. She didn't know what this human with the frighteningly similar power to Arthas was heading into the highlands for, but she wasn't about to let that stop her.

"_So, Marco lied to me about where this human was going. Did he think I would simply take his word at face value when he so helpfully tried to give me a location this human was going to?"_ Silana stepped outside and oriented herself. For what she was about to do, she would need to do so on foot. It was late in the night, which meant the human was most likely asleep. Without a moment to waste, she took off into the nearby forest at a brisk speed. If she was lucky, she could reach Thoradin's Wall by dawn and be in the Arathi Highlands soon after.

Back in the inn, Maji watched the dark ranger strut out of the inn and disappear into the night before turning to Taruk, "Dat be mighty cold of ya."

Taruk quirked an eyebrow and took a swig from his drink, "What the hell are you talking about?"

"Sellin' out Ichigo like dat," Maji's tone was brisk and accusatory.

"Please," Taruk scoffed and leaned forward, until his eyes were inches away from Maji's, "If you think that _elf_ will be a challenge to Ichigo then you must be going senile."

"Taruk has a point," Zulrea spoke up. While nearly half a day had passed since escaping from Durnholde Keep, she was already looking better, "Ichigo be lookin' like a human, but he be possessin' a supernatural strength I've never seen before."

"You're sister's right, Maji," Taruk grunted and stifled a yawn, "I don't think we've seen the last of that human. I have a feeling that we'll meet Ichigo in the future, most likely on the battlefield. In any event, I think I've found our next job, if Maji feels like getting his head out of some old ruins."

"Just tell us already," Zulrea ordered.

"Humph," Taruk grunted and leaned back in his chair, "A friend of mine in Ogrimmar passed along some interesting news. About a week ago, grunts in the Barrens reported coming across several empty silithid hives. Apparently, the bugs have been leaving their hives in droves and heading further south."

"Headin' south?" Maji's mind raced at the possibilities that could mean. As the history of the silithid passed through his mind, his eyes widened in shock, "Silithus…"

"Yeah," Taruk nodded as a large girn spread across his face, "Something big is going to happen very soon."

* * *

...

* * *

Thousands of years ago, soon after modern humanity arrived from Northrend, the quel'dorei had established outposts and minor towns through what would eventually become Lordaeron and Stromgarde. While the ever-present threat from the Amani Empire prevented the high elves from establishing large settlements outside the protective barrier surrounding Quel'Thalas, some hardy elves nevertheless did exactly that despite the dangers. While many lodges were founded through the now Horde and Alliance lands, none were as famous as Quel'Belore or "High Sun" in the common tongue. What started as a simple high elven ranger outpost soon began to draw thousand of high elves a year to witness the sun rising over the Arathi Highlands. No one knew how or why, but every morning at dawn, the sun rose over the highlands in just the right way that it bathed the rolling plains and fields in a golden glow that was reminiscent of the magically induced perpetual spring in Quel'Thalas.

Even though Ichigo did not know any of this, as he stifled a yawn in the early dawn, he would have whole-heartedly agreed if he weren't half-asleep on his feet.

"Why did I get up at this ungodly hour?"

That, of course, was a rhetorical question. Ichigo knew quite well why he had decided to leave so early in the morning. All last night every soldier he had walked past had saluted or thanked him for the assistance he provided in taking down Kovork. It was quite unnerving to the shinigami to be thanked so much for something he cared so little about. Actually, Ichigo was glad Kovork was dead. He just didn't feel like celebrating the fact that he killed the ogre, thought it wasn't as if he was upset about doing the deed. Some of the things Dathanor said Kovork had ordered or done had sickened Ichigo to the core.

The only downside to him leaving Stromgarde so early in the morning was that his thoughts, no matter how hard he tried to stop them, drifted back to his world. As much as he realized or wished otherwise, Ichigo knew everyone he loved or cared about back on Earth was dead, killed at the hands of the Burning Legion.

"Damn demon bastards…" Ichigo muttered angrily.

A strange feeling washed over him at the mention of the Burning Legion and Ichigo looked over his shoulder to his zanpakuto strapped on his back. He honestly did not know what was going on. Ever since the battle yesterday against Kovork and the Boulderfist, he had been feeling as if his zanpakuto was responding to his thoughts.

That was a stupid notion, zanpakuto are simply weapons used to slay hollows and help souls pass on to the afterlife. If they were anything more, Ichigo was sure Rukia would have told him. Ichigo stopped for a moment as an idea came to him. Rukia had been rather forthcoming with information concerning the Soul Society and shinigami in general, but she had tended to only tell him what he needed to know just moments before it became vital for him to know it. Could Rukia had kept information concerning his zanpakuto secret from him for some reason? Another, much fainter, feeling pulsed through his body and Ichigo sighed. This was a problem but his focus was elsewhere. He would deal with whatever is going on with his zanpakuto eventually, but for the moment he needed to get to Stormwind. The chances of someone in Stormwind that could help him was one in a million, but Ichigo didn't have any other choice.

The familiar clip-clop of a horse snapped Ichigo out of his deep stupor. Quickly stepping to the side, he watched as a procession of Stromgarde soldiers, led by a cavalryman on horseback, marched by him. When a few of them noticed Ichigo and snapped a respectful salute, Ichigo forced himself to repress the sigh threatening to well up and escape. The cavalryman, noticing his fellow soldiers' distracted attention, saw Ichigo.

"Sir Ichigo! I did not see you there."

Ichigo waved him off halfheartedly. Hopefully people would forget about that stupid title Galen had given him soon, "It's fine."

"Your assistance yesterday was very much appreciated," the cavalryman said, "Though I fought with Captain Ariana, the rumors I have heard about you are quite impressive. If I may be so bold as to ask, is it true that you took on Kovork singlehandedly?"

"No," Ichigo answered without hesitation, "Dathanor managed to shatter his jaw. I don't think I would have been able to finish Kovork if he hadn't been as injured as he was."

"Strong and humble," the cavalryman muttered. When his horse whined in agitation, forcing the soldier to calm his mount down, he turned to Ichigo, "I thank you for your time but I'm afraid we must be going. My men and I have spent the night rounding up members of the Syndicate and are anxious to return to the capital to see their families again. Some haven't seen their wives in months."

Ichigo glanced down the road and noticed, in the middle of the procession of soldiers, dozens of bound and gagged members of the Syndicate, their orange scarves and facemasks pulled down and exposing their once hidden faces. As they were forced to walk past Ichigo, several of the rogues and warriors turned towards Ichigo and stared at him with enough venom and hatred to make a lesser man flinch. Ichigo, however, simply stared back with narrowed eyes. As much as he found the idea of execution abhorrent, they deserved what was coming to them.

How anyone could be so evil as to burn several children alive while laughing just to send a message was beyond his understanding.

The next hour or so passed relatively uneventfully for Ichigo. While he passed by two more detachments of soldiers, each with dozens of Syndicate prisoners, the highlight of his journey were the several earth elementals that had decided to attack him out of the blue. Dathanor had told him offhandedly that elementals did not have a liking for mortals and would attack at the smallest provocation, or sometimes just randomly out of the blue. Although he had wanted to just go and attack the earth elementals, Ichigo didn't know if his attacks would work. How do you kill something that is composed of nothing but magic and rocks? After a couple of them began pooling their powers together to summon a boulder larger than his body, Ichigo had wisely decided to run away. It was too early in the morning for him to deal with a bunch of living rocks.

After five minutes of non-stop running to make sure he lost the earth elementals, followed by another hour of walking, Ichigo found himself in a conundrum. While he had expected to simply follow the road to the Wetlands, he hadn't thought there would be a fork in the road. Reaching into his bag, he pulled out the map Marcus had given him. He damn well wasn't going to take the wrong road. If he did, and with his luck he would, he would encounter something that would start yet another adventure that he wanted no part of.

"Let's see," Ichigo muttered to himself. Some of Marcus's directions were helpful but for others, Ichigo couldn't make heads or tails of what the man had written.

According to the map, he was at the major crossroads running through the Arathi Highlands. If he continued to follow the road to the east, he would pass by the Go'Shek Farm before reaching Hammerfell, both of which were deep in Horde territory. For the moment, Ichigo decided he was going to play it safe and avoid the Horde. While Maji and the others hadn't been so bad, there was no telling what the rest of the Horde was like and with the forsaken and their Dark Lady after him, he needed to stick to areas where he was safe, relatively speaking.

Ichigo's eyes widened as he realized something he shouldn't have forgotten. Marcus and the others had mentioned that the Dark Lady or Sylvanas would have sent a response to his presence in Hillsbrad by yesterday evening. As much as he wanted to believe that some bureaucratic nonsense slowed down the response, he needed to act as if it was the worse case scenario. If he assumed that Sylvanas was royally pissed at his interference, then he might just have someone pursuing him at this very moment.

He needed to keep moving.

Tucking the map back into his bag, Ichigo turned right and began heading south. According to the map, this would take him through the only gap in the mountains, across the Thandol Span, and into the Wetlands.

Ichigo walked at a brisk pace. If he travelled too fast, he risked tiring himself out but if he moved too slowly, his pursuer might catch up to him. While he was confident in his power and abilities, Ichigo had no idea what someone like Sylvanas would send after him. If half the things he heard about her were true, Ichigo expected a large abomination that spit in the face of god to track him down.

As he got closer and closer to the Wetlands, Ichigo began to feel the humidity rising and was forced to constantly step around and avoid large holes in the road. With the fall of Stromgarde, basic civic services had quickly vanished. After carefully stepping around every hole in the ground, along with one or two close calls when the ground near a hole collapsed, Ichigo turned around a bend in the road and stopped.

"That's…impressive."

The Thandol Span had been one of the more ambitious dwarven engineering projects outside of the creation of Ironforge. The span had been built upon the remains of three old bridges, lost during the First War, and connected Lordaeron to the north with Khaz Modan to the south. The initial designs of the Thandol Span had been for the quick and effective mobilization of a large army between the continents, but that quickly backfired on the dwarves when, during the Third War, the Scourge attempted to push through the highlands and south into Khaz Modan. While the abominations and other massive undead creatures would normally be unable to make the journey, the Thandol Span had easily been able to support their weight. The battle that followed was costly to both the dwarves and Scourge but, even after the span suffered major structural damage, the undead had been repulsed.

Ichigo stared at the Thandol Span. When he first heard about it, he assumed it was something simple like a bridge. He hadn't expected to cross something as massive as this. His initial amazement was tempered by the fact that something had happened to the span in the recent past. While two large roads had been built to allowed passage between the two continents, one of them had been destroyed, leaving nothing more than several broken pylons and one platform perching precariously hundreds of feet above the water below.

A fierce and stiff wind blew up from the south, carrying with it traces of salt and dampness. Ichigo looked around the horizon before starting towards the span. He might have looked calm on the surface but he was quite anxious as to what he might find once he gets there. His journey though this world hadn't exactly been quiet and boring. He wasn't sure if it was his luck or just bad timing, but every time he travelled somewhere new, he was dragged into a battle or quest. It was getting annoying and he just hoped he could reach Menethil Harbor without anything interesting happening.

The path through the pass in the mountains descended sharply down in order to level off before reaching the Thandol Span, forcing Ichigo to walk sidestep the entire way if he didn't want to trip and fall. The slow pace, while methodical and safe, was also boring, allowing Ichigo to once again have time to think.

"_That Medivh bastard,_" Ichigo nearly tripped over an overturned rock in the road but quickly caught his balance, _"If I ever see him again, I'm going to deck him for leaving me here without any help."_

Ichigo didn't hate Medivh. As much as he was a condescending bastard who seemed to have the answers for everything, he did help Ichigo get to this world. But for the man to just leave him in the middle of nowhere without any assistance was idiotic. How was he supposed to know where to go after being dropped off in the middle of a damn forest?

Stepping around a large hole in the road, Ichigo stiffened as a strange feeling passed through his body. He knew it hadn't come from his zanpakuto and quickly leapt to the side as a rather jagged bolt of lightning slammed into the ground where he had just been standing.

"The hell?"

Backpedalling several meters down the slope, Ichigo gripped the hilt of his zanpakuto and looked around for the source of the attack. Since it was a clear day, which meant natural lightning was highly unlikely, the likely source of the lightning was someone trying to attack him.

A second bolt cracked through the air and exploded against the ground mere feet from where he was standing. As he covered his eyes to protect them from dust and dirt that had been kicked up, Ichigo could have sworn the lightning had been a disturbing mix of black and white palettes. A prickling sensation on the back of his neck alerted Ichigo to something behind him. Turning around and looking up, Ichigo's expression quickly dropped.

"You have got to be shitting me."

He hadn't noticed it earlier, due to where it was, but hovering hundreds of feet above the ground was a swirling vortex of crackling black and white energy that seemed to be trying to both explode and implode at the same time. Ichigo looked around the vortex and noticed that the early morning sky, still a mixture of a blue and faint yellow, seemed to lose its color the closer it got to the strange vortex until it took on the same colorless hue.

"That can't be good," Ichigo took a step back when he witnessed another crackle of lightning shoot out of the vortex and across the sky. A flock of birds that had been flying nearby avoided the electric strike for the most part, but one bird was unfortunate enough to be struck. To Ichigo's concern and horror, instead of simply dying, the bird seemed to decay right before his eyes until nothing was left but several bones falling to the ground.

Ichigo only had a moment to contemplate what he saw before he was forced to dive to avoid another bolt of lightning. Crouching behind an outcropping of rock, Ichigo peered around the edge at the vortex, a grimace on his face, "That's not fucking lightning."

The storm lasted barely a minute before abruptly abating. Risking a second glance out from where he was hiding, Ichigo was nearly blasted off his feet as something emerged from the vortex accompanied by a rather large sonic boom.

"Damn it," Ichigo cursed as he tumbled backwards. Thinking quickly, he drew his zanpakuto and planted it in the ground, bringing his momentum and body to a stop mere feet from the edge of the cliff.

"What the hell was that?"

Letting out a ragged breath, Ichigo peered over the hilt of his zanpakuto. The first thing he noticed was that the vortex had vanished almost as if it had never existed in the first place. The second was that there was a thick column of smoke rising from a crater just to the west of the road.

Ichigo took a few steps towards the crater before quickly stopping himself.

"_Wait a second, what the hell am I doing?"_

For what possible reason would he go investigate whatever came out of that strange, and also very dangerous, vortex? Just a few minutes ago he was hiding in fear for his life but now, here he was, going towards whatever had come out of the vortex. Either his courage ran far deeper than even he thought or he was completely and utterly insane. Hadn't he just promised himself to try and avoid any adventure that happened to come across his path?

Ichigo stood there, torn between leaving and finding out what had crashed into the ground. Eventually his curiosity overwhelmed his caution and he reluctantly began walking up the slope towards the crater.

Reaching the edge of the newly created pit in the ground, Ichigo pulled himself over the lip of the crater and peered inside. At first the smoke and dust in the air made it impossible to see. Coughing and covering his eyes, Ichigo waited a few minutes for the smoke to begin clearing away before looking again. As his eyes managed to pierce what smoke remained, Ichigo noticed something lying in the center of the crater. Although the smoke initially made it impossible to see what it was, as it cleared, Ichigo's eyes widened when saw a person lying unconscious on the ground.

Setting aside the implausibility of someone surviving such a devastating impact, Ichigo leapt over the lip of the crater and slid down the walls until he came to a stop near the person. Bending down and turning them over as gently as possible, to not aggravate any injuries, Ichigo nearly tripped over his feet when he realized the person was a girl.

She was about his age, maybe even a few years older than him, with black hair that fell to just below her shoulders. The girl wore what might have once been an expensive crimson robe that hugged her figure but, much to Ichigo's eternal relief, still managed to cover her modesty despite its currently torn and burnt state.

Carefully prying open one of the bloody cuts on her sleeve with his fingers, Ichigo was surprised to find no trace of a wound. Frowning, he looked at several other tears that seemed to have been the site of deep lacerations but found nothing but pale and flawless skin.

"What the hell happened to you?" he muttered out loud, more to the currently unconscious girl than himself.

Despite the fact she showed signs of having recently been in battle against something, Ichigo could not find a trace of a cut anywhere on her body. The only injury that he had been able to find had been the most obvious. Something with an intense heat had hit her stomach, burning away the crimson robe to the point that the jagged edges of the robe were colored a brittle and dark black. The same heat had also burnt her flesh, covering her stomach with an angry and blistering red along with several patches of completely burnt skin. Ichigo scrunched his nose slightly as the smell of burnt flesh finally hit him. Unwilling to let that stop him, Ichigo examined the burn a little more closely.

Thankfully it wasn't as bad as it looked. If there was one thing his dad had taught him, aside from making sure anyone he wanted to marry passed a psych evaluation, was that burns always looked much worse than they actually were. The girl's stomach, despite its raw state, had a mixture of first and second-degree burns. That was good. If she had third-degree burns, she would require someone with actual medical training, which meant Ichigo would be forced to carry her back to Stromgarde.

Reaching over his shoulder for his bag, Ichigo quickly began rummaging through the contents for anything that would help him. Letting lose a sigh of relief when he found the flask containing the mage water, Ichigo carefully uncorked it and slowly began running the magically cooled liquid over the burns. While the large spasm from the girl's body indicated that she had felt that, Ichigo knew he couldn't stop. While it wouldn't work as well as ice, the cold water should work to help reduce the inevitable swelling that would soon come from the burns. A little pain now would be a good trade off for a reduced recovery time.

Pulling out the roll of bandages that Marcus had insisted he take, Ichigo began removing the girl's robe from around her abdomen while being careful not to tear too much away. As he wrapped her stomach and back in the sanitized gauze, while making sure he wasn't getting any dirt or dust trapped under the bandages, Ichigo noticed one of the girl's fingers begin to twitch. Casting his gaze away from her stomach and towards her face, Ichigo was slightly unsettled when he noticed the girl's piercing amber eyes. Focused solely on him. After several awkward seconds of eye contact, he decided to break the ice and dissipate any unnecessary questions she might have for him, "You shouldn't move. You have some rather severe burns and I just finished wrapping them."

For a moment Ichigo thought all was well and good but when the girl opened her mouth to speak, instead of answering with words, she let loose a shout of anger and rage that didn't sound like it came from a human. Quickly sitting up without any trouble, which Ichigo thought to have been impossible given the locations of her burns, she reached towards him and placed a hand directly on Ichigo's armor.

"Hey!" Ichigo said in surprise and tried to grab her wrist, but found her strength to be shockingly high, "You need to calm down. I'm here to help you."

The girl didn't seem to hear Ichigo and narrowed her eyes at him. Just as he was about to try another method, Ichigo felt an intense heat beginning to emanate from where her hand was touching his chest. Looking down, he noticed tongues of black fire snaking out from between her fingers.

"What the hell is this?"

His question was answered as, with a primal shout, the girl released the black flames and enveloped Ichigo's body in a torrent of fire.


End file.
